


The Show Must Go On

by Sonicfurby



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: F/M, Fun for the Whole Family!, Other, The Announcer is a bastard, and abusive relationships, he has a size kink, there will possibly be non-con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:27:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 45,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27632057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonicfurby/pseuds/Sonicfurby
Summary: The hotel service drone Aka gets assigned as the famous Irken Announcers personal assistant during his trip to Conventia.What she doesn‘t know is that the beloved news anchor and television star actually is a completely different person than what the media leads to believe.
Relationships: The Announcer/Irkensona
Comments: 48
Kudos: 52





	1. Conventia Inn

**Author's Note:**

> Heya guys you might now me as Khaliar, the artist from the Invader Zim fandom who almost exclusively draws fan art of the Announcer :)  
> Now you`ve found my writing. I’m sorry.

A very small Irken watched the digital display inside the elevator slowly counting down from ten. She was going to the lobby, luckily the button for that was on the low end of the row of seemingly never ending buttons. She couldn’t reach anything above the 3rd floor.

The doors opened with a soft bing and the small Irken stepped out of the elevator into the crowded lobby of the renowned hotel _Conventia Inn_. Most guests of the hotel were Irken themselves, not many aliens of other races dared to visit places this deeply rooted inside the Irken empire. She grabbed a small pack of fresh brochures that lay on the reception counter and turned to sort them in when two taller Irkens with purple eyes blocked her path. One was excitedly waving a communicator in front of the smaller Irkens face.

"Oh my gosh Aka have you heard the news?? The greatest television star ever, Irks Showmaster himself will check into our hotel! **Today**!!“ the taller of the two shouted and grasped the communicator the drones used inside the hotel with both her claws like a precious treasure.

"Yeah, they flew him in to moderate Operation Impending Doom! Isn‘t this exciting?!“

The second said and grinned widely.

"And what‘s even better - he asked for a personal assistant during his stay at the _Conventia Inn_! It‘s going to be me, for sure. I‘m the tallest receptionist here.“

"Or maybe...“ the second said and pushed her aside,

"He wants someone who actually has been doing the job for a while...like me!“

Aka smiled at the two bickering.

"Wow!“ she said and adjusted her grasp on the stack of brochures in her arms. They were slowly getting too much for her to hold up.

"That is huge. I‘m so happy for you guys. No matter who he picks, I bet he will tip very generously.“

The taller of the two didn’t really seem to be listening but returned the smile.

"Can you imagine, I‘ve heard he is only one inch smaller than the Tallest! I can‘t wait to meet-“

They flinched at a loud bang coming from the huge hinged entrance doors that silenced everyone in the lobby. In the now open doors stood a huge Irken. He was wearing a ridiculously large cape that was covering his entire body and fully edged with a pink and red feather lining. His face was almost completely hidden behind a matte green helmet that only featured one eye with a droopy eyelid. He looked bored. Behind him a green eyed service drone struggled to balance a stack of three huge suitcases, but they eventually failed and the suitcases fell to the floor. The Announcers eye lit up in an alarming shade of red as he turned towards the drone with a look of disgust. Aka gulped at the menacing sight and rushed off to sort in the brochures. The taller receptionists didn‘t seem to be bothered by the scary vibe he gave off. Almost in sync they turned towards him and straightened their posture.

"Welcome to _Conventia Inn_ !“ the taller of the two said a bowed. The second mimicked her movement.

"I‘ll be your personal assistant during your stay here. May I take that from your drone?“ she reached out to grab one of the suitcases that had fallen to the floor. The Announcer cleared his throat and stopped her dead in her tracks.

"That won‘t be necessary,“ he said in a soothing yet forceful voice. The receptionist cracked an insecure smile and slowly retracted her claw.

"You,“ he said and nodded towards Aka.

"Are you available as my personal assistant?“

Aka was frozen in motion and unable to respond. A shiver went down her back and her claws started sweating inside her leather gloves.

The second receptionist ran over to her, snatched the brochures, slapped them onto a table and shoved Aka over to stand right in front of him.

"Of course! She‘d be _delighted_ to!“ the second receptionist said and let go of Aka. The Announcer scanned her head to toes while her sweating got worse. He was absolutely terrifying.

"Can‘t she speak for herself?“ he asked, now sounding annoyed.

"Yes Sir I mean - my Showmaster!“ Aka babbled and straightened up.

"Excuse my entrance. I do not usually assist guests at our -“

"Pick me up from the television station at 9,” he interrupted her and turned back towards the door.

"And I want my room prepared with my luggage by then.”

  
He left the lobby as fast as he had entered and then the silence was over. The other guests, having realized who had just visited the hotel, started chatting excitedly. The two taller receptionists picked up the suitcases the Announcers drone had dropped and handed one to Aka, giggling.

"Who would have thought, he seems to be into the small things in life...“

The two snickered and carried the luggage towards the elevators.

The only one who wasn‘t giggling was Aka. She stared at the now empty doors like she had seen a ghost. The green eyed drone had left too, but Aka had memorized them just well enough. They had been so small, just a tiny bit taller than Aka herself.

Why would an Irken that could have any drone in the empire pick such a small specimen to carry all of this luggage?


	2. Cab

It was 8:50pm and dark outside when Akas cab, which was basically a longer Voot Cruiser with extra seats in the back, pulled up in front of the television station. The huge tower vanished in the clouds of planet Conventia , she could only guess how tall it must have been according to the dim, blinking lights that shone through the cloudy night sky. The station was by far the most remarkable landmark of Conventia _,_ next to the Main Convention Hall in which their Almighty Tallest would present the battle plan for Operation Impending Doom in a few days. If her PAK didn‘t regulate her body temperature accordingly she‘d probably have been freezing waiting outside the impressive building.

The clock had just passed 9:15 when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. The sound was accompanied by two male sounding voices that she hadn‘t heard before.

"Daaaw look at you, little one,“ said one and Aka tensed every muscle in her body, but didn‘t turn around. She had no time for this.

"Hey!“ said the other voice and she heard the two stop right behind her. 

“You better be nice and turn around to talk to us, drone.” According to the direction of their voices they were taller than her.

Aka felt the programming inside her PAK rumble. 

**TURN AROUND** it said. 

**DO WHAT THE TALLERS COMMAND.**

She shook it off and kept staring at the stations entrance doors. She had a job to do. 

"Hey!” one shouted, louder this time, and grabbed her shoulder. Aka flinched and jumped away, facing her molesters. The somewhat tall Irkens were wearing Invader uniforms, probably they had come to Conventia for the proclamation of Operation Impending Doom. One looked surprised at the reveal of her face.

“Damn, that’s a cute one,” he exclaimed and jokingly bowed before Aka. The other giggled.

“Would you like to join us in our hotel room? I’m convinced you will love it”

Aka felt like a stone was dropped into her gut as she slowly took a step backwards and away from the two Invaders. 

“Yea,” the other said and grinned widely. 

“What an opportunity, two elite Irken Invaders at once. I bet a drone as small as you has never gotten an offer this generous…”

Aka looked over to the cab driver in horror, but he was actively avoiding to look at the situation that was playing out in front of him. He was smaller than the two Invaders himself.

 **DO WHAT THE TALLERS COMMAND** her PAK screamed, louder this time. 

She felt sick from the thought and took another step backwards, towards the television station.

“Okay, thinking time is over,” one of the Invaders said and grabbed her wrist, harder this time. She squeaked and took a swing at his face with her free claw. According to his angry snarl she had hit her target.

He let go of her wrist and Aka turned to run away, but instead bumped into a wall of red fabric. She fell down on the pavement and looked right back up at the obstacle she had run into. The Announcer stood there, towering over her and the two invaders. His face had the same bored, unmoved expression like before at the lobby with his single glowing eye resting on the hurt Invader.

“What seems to be the problem here?” he asked and slightly squinted at the three.

“That drone just attacked me! She’s a defective!” the hurt one screamed and covered his left cheek with his claws. A few stains of pink blood peeked out between the gloved fingers. The other Invader pulled his raging friend towards him, holding him back from closing in on Aka again.

“I see,” the Announcer mumbled and looked down at Aka who had just gotten back up on her feet and shook the dust off her receptionist uniform.

“She must be reported to the Control Brains,” the hurt Invader hissed and opened a holo screen from his PAK.

“That won‘t be necessary,” the Announcer said and took a step forward, shielding Aka from their field of vision.

“She’s with me.”

The two Invaders stood still for a moment, then the one that was holding back his friend whispered something and they left in a hurry.

The Announcer looked back down at Aka and nodded towards the cab.

“After you.”

Aka jogged towards the cab and jumped in quickly. Nothing she’d rather do than leaving the place. He entered after her, it was clearly meant for Irkens of his size and not hers. Aka could barely reach the safety belt that was dangling from the ceiling. When she finally grabbed and secured it she could feel his sharp gaze resting on her. Too intimidated to make eye contact she looked outside the window as the cab driver started the engine and the cab flew off towards the _Conventia Inn_.

* * *

The trip back to the hotel felt like an eternity to Aka. She was emotionally troubled by what just had happened, torn between her own fear and the embarrassment she had experienced before the taller that she worked for.

It had turned so dark outside that she could not make out a lot of their surroundings looking out of the window. All she could see was the Announcers reflection and how he was looking out the window himself.

She took the opportunity to look at him for a little while longer. His claws were huge, resting folded in his lap just the way they always did on television. Though, he was way more intimidating in person than he was on TV. He was taller than she had imagined, and his real way of talking was nothing like the cheerful, charismatic Irken she knew from the News and Game shows. How odd.

He turned towards her and feeling like she had been caught staring, she flinched instead of playing it cool. She needed something to talk about, and quick.

“So, what brings you to Conventia?” she asked and turned towards him instead of his reflection.

He seemed confused by the question.

“I...have come to moderate Operation Impending Doom. Have you not heard?”

Of course. Everyone knew about it. She cursed herself for being stupid and forced a smile.

“Yes of course, silly me,” she said and prevented herself from saying anything more stupid by looking out of the window again. A few minutes passed in silence until the Announcer turned towards her again.

"So...how is the receptionist job working out for you? Are you happy?“

Taken by surprise by the intimacy and complexity of the question, Aka took a moment to respond.

"I don‘t know,“ she finally said and looked at him too.

"It’s all I‘ve ever been programmed to do.“

He seemed pleased with her response. He might have even smiled a bit?

"Would you like a life change? I was offered to move into the quarters of the TV station here on Conventia, and I could use a full time personal assistant.“

Akas eyes widened.

"That is a really generous offer, my Showmaster,“ she said but then quickly stopped herself from getting too excited.

"But that is not my choice to make. I belong to the hotel.“

The Announcer shrugged at her words.

"Nothing an Irken of my status couldn‘t deal with.“

"But...and I beg your forgiveness for my words, my Showmaster, but you don‘t know me. You have no information on my qualifications, or my skills or my-“

"None of that will be necessary,“ he interrupted her.

"I know everything that I need to know.“

She kneaded her claws in her lap from the stress and pressure of the decision she had to make right now. This could be her chance on a new life, and by the side of a high ranking member of the Irken society. 

"I will give you time to think about this,“ he said and turned away as the cab stopped outside of the _Conventia Inn_.

"You have until the proclamation of Operation Impending Doom in 3 days. I will await your response before my checkout.“

He opened the cab door and strode towards the huge entrance doors of the hotel. A little too late Aka remembered that it was her job to closely follow him, so she jumped out and ran after him just in time to catch up in front of the elevators. One of his steps equaled approximately 5 steps for her.

He entered the elevator and turned facing the door, hands folded on his back. She squished in just before the door closed.

"The penthouse, floor 120.“

Aka gasped at the high number and helplessly looked at the elevators control panel. Floor 120 was in the top row, way out of her reach. She stood on the tip of her toes and stretched up in a half hearted attempt to reach the button for the penthouse, but there was no way she could reach it. 

She could feel the Announcer staring at her intensely. Was he amused by this?

"I beg your forgiveness my Showmaster,“ she finally said and gave up, getting back down on her heels.

"I can‘t reach it.“

The Announcer stretched out his huge gloved hand and pressed the button that was about at the height of his chest.

"Why didn‘t you just say so?“ he asked with a smug grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blatantly promotes my art for reference on the Showmasters and Akas size and looks:  
> https://www.instagram.com/p/B9coAfCguV0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
> 
> Ignore the character on the right, she’s not a part of this story.


	3. Lunch Break

Aka hid the floating yellow holo screen she had projected from her PAK when she heard chairs being pushed back inside the biggest conference room that the _Conventia Inn_ had to offer.

The doors opened and she straightened up, claws folded in front of her stomach.

Multiple taller Irkens stepped out of the conference room, none of which looked down even once at the small receptionist standing next to the door. The Announcer was the last one to leave the room. He stopped in the doorframe, his gaze fixed on the other Irkens that had just left the scene.

"Corporate meetings are the worst,“ he said with a blank expression and looked down at Aka.

"Tell me there is something good happening today.“

Aka nodded and activated the holo screen again as they started walking through the huge lobby filled with Irkens of all sizes. Even here, Aka was the smallest.

"Your next meeting is scheduled for 10, the editors for the Operation Impending Doom broadcast will meet you at conference room 2. They want to share a few changes in the script,“ she said, scrolling down the digital planner.

"That‘s in 20 minutes.“

The Announcer sighed.

"You also have another appointment at 11:30, the department of Irken tourism wants to pitch a promotional advertisement in order to make planet Vort a more appealing place for tourists.“

"Why would anyone want to visit that dump of a planet?“ the Announcer asked and looked down at the drone.

"I heard they have a very comfortable couch,“ Aka statet and, while walking, snatched a brochure from the brochure stand. She held it up towards the Announcers hands and he grabbed it carefully, focused to not hurt her tiny claws in the process.

"Your lunch break is at 1pm, I told the chef to prepare it for you,“ she continued while the Announcer skimmed over the brochure.

"What about the interview with that one actress? What was her name again?“

"Mistress Val,“ Aka said and scrolled further down in her masters schedule.

"She‘ll meet you in her room at 6. She explicitly asked that you come...alone?“ Aka squinted at the tiny note that had been added to the schedule, probably on behalf of the actress herself.

"What about the camera and sound team? You can‘t just do the setup yourself, also they‘re already booked and on their way…“

The Announcer made a distressed noise and put the brochure down on the receptionist counter.

"Don‘t cancel the camera team. I‘ll manage this.“

He stepped into the elevator. Aka made a move to follow him but he raised a claw and blocked off her path. 

"Pick me up at my room in 10 minutes,“ he said and pressed the button for his penthouse.

The elevator closed and for a very short moment, Aka was alone. Then the moment was over.

"Oh my god Aka you are **slaying** this personal assistant biz,“ the taller receptionist shouted at her and leaned against the counter.

"I wish I had gotten the job…,“ she went on and the second receptionist propped up her elbow on Akas shoulder.

"How‘s the tip?“ she asked and longingly stared at the closed elevator doors.

"He didn‘t pay me anything yet,“ Aka casually replied and picked up the brochure he had just recklessly left in the middle of the very tidy counter.

"He‘s kind of… imprudent.“

The brochure was tossed into the trash can behind the counter, the two receptionists kept staring at the elevator.

"I‘m sure he‘s saving it for the checkout. The man must be _loaded_ ,“ the taller chirped and jumped back to her spot at the counter.

The second one let go of Aka with a friendly punch to her upper arm and got back to work too.

Aka checked back in with the time and sighed. She only had 8 more minutes until she had to pick the Announcer up from his suite.

* * *

After having picked him up for the second appointment of the day, Aka resumed her normal work at the receptionist counter. He had assured her that he‘d go to lunch by himself, leaving her enough time to catch up on her normal tasks at the hotel.

Just after 1pm she got a text message on her communicator.

**Meet me at the restaurant -A.**

Aka wasn‘t too sure what the A was supposed to stand for, but either way this message could only have been from the Showmaster. She quickly left her spot to another drone and hurried to the lunch hall.

* * *

Even in the vastness of the hotels restaurant, he was not hard to find. Leaned back, he sat alone on an elevated terrace next to a huge window that showed the purple-blue skyline of planet Conventia. The guests that passed by would stop or whisper to each other, he acted like he didn‘t notice.

Aka stopped next to him and folded her claws.

"You asked for me?“ she coughed, out of breath from the pace she laid down to arrive at the restaurant as quickly as possible.

"Did you run here?“ he asked, more as a joke than as a question. Aka was embarrassed and blushed at his words. Nobody had ever paid enough attention to her to notice that she usually runs places to make it in time.

"I...I-,“ she stuttered, caught again at having done something embarrassing. She didn‘t find an answer that could lessen her embarrassment in this moment. 

"You know you don‘t have to go out of your way for every single task you are given. Have some dignity,“ the Announcer said and gestured towards a second, empty chair at the table.

"Sit down.“

While still processing his words, Aka sat down on the table.

"I asked the chef to double the order,“ he said and shoved a plate over to Aka. On it was a stack of meat, glazed with a golden looking sauce and topped with a fancy leaf. Next to it was some type of fruit salad mixed with pieces of chocolate.

Aka slowly looked up from the plate in disbelief.

"I can‘t eat that. That is customer food,“ she said and heard her PAK getting ready to complain.

"I‘ll allow it,“ the Announcer said and shoved pieces of fruit into his own mouth. She still did not pick up the fork that lay before her.

"It‘s an order,“ he then said and straightened up.

"Eat.“

Akas PAK started to rumble.

 **HE GAVE YOU AN ORDER. EAT** it said, but then made a little clicking sound.

**GET BACK TO WORK. YOU DON‘T HAVE A LUNCH BREAK**

**HE GAVE YOU AN ORDER**

**GET BACK TO WORK**

Aka clenched her jaw at the two voices colliding in her PAK and forced a very askew smile.

"I need to get back to work. Please excuse me-“ she jumped off her chair and left the restaurant, not looking back.


	4. Penthouse

Later the same evening and after the interview with the actress Val, Aka picked up the Announcer to lead him back to his room. They walked in silence, mainly because Aka felt too embarrassed to talk to him after what had happened at lunch. According to the displeased look on his face he seemed to avoid talking about it too.

They stopped at his penthouse and Aka bowed.

"It was an honor to work for you today, my Showmaster,“ she said in an attempt to loosen up the tensity of the situation.

He looked down at her passively and nodded, then disappeared into his room slamming the door shut just a bit harder than necessary. Aka cringed at the loud bang and immediately set out to travel back to the lobby.

She should have just accepted his offer at lunch. She might have only acted according to the company rules, but this had been a direct order from a taller. A much, much taller. It had been entitled of her to refuse his generous offer.

Just around the corner towards the elevators she froze at the sound of two familiar voices. The two Invaders that had harassed her in front of the television station walked down the hallway, blocking off the path to the elevators. One was wearing a bandage across the left side of his face. She immediately turned around, hoping that they had not spotted her.

"Hey!“ she heard them shout and started sprinting back the way she had come. She heard two pairs of footsteps chasing after her and tried to weigh her options. Both the stairs and the elevators were into the other direction. There was only one more room at the end of the hallway.

She came to a halt at the penthouse door and slammed both her fists against it. The door almost instantly opened and the Announcer eyed her with a mix of confusion and concern. She squished in and ducked behind his legs. Before he could even open his mouth to say something the two Invaders rushed past, then stopped and turned back to the open door.

The Invader with the bandage eyed Aka aggressively, but the Announcer slammed the door shut before their faces.

"You seem to be popular around here,“ he said in a monotonous voice and looked down at the drone sitting to his feet. She stared at the closed door as if she was expecting it to be kicked down from the outside any moment now.

The Announcer turned away and walked deeper into the room, picking up scattered clothing on the way.

"Excuse the mess,“ he said while picking up a huge feathered mass from the hotel room floor.

"I wasn‘t expecting guests.“

Only now Aka realized that he was not wearing the giant cloak which was usually hiding his entire body. Instead he wore a red turtleneck and black leather pants that seamlessly merged into a pair of black boots. The outfit somewhat resembled an Invader uniform in color and shape. His form was surprisingly slender, almost mirroring the shape of a Tallest. His PAK sat high up between his shoulder blades and had a different color and shape than Akas. Instead of the oval shape and pink flaps his was perfectly round with red flaps. 

Aka gulped at the forbidden sight and covered her eyes with her claws.

"I beg your forgiveness, my Showmaster!“ she shouted just a bit too loud.

"It was not my intention to disturb you,“ she continued, still covering her eyes.

He threw the clothes that he had collected into a nearby closet and turned back to the drone that was sitting on the floor.

"You can look,“ he said and watched Aka as she uncovered her eyes. 

Aka had never seen the penthouse, the place was just as huge as she had expected it to be. There was a gigantic bed in the middle of the room, more than ten times the size of what drones are used to sleeping in. Different types of armchairs and lounges were scattered on various rugs, and the wall facing the opposite side of the door was one big window in which she could mainly see the reflection of herself sitting in the dim room. There was a desk covered in paperwork and a second door leading to what must have been the bathroom. The Announcer sat down on an armchair right next to the bed.

“So,” he said in a bored voice and crossed his legs.

“Are you going to call security?”

Aka noticed that she was shaking and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself before speaking. He noticed how disturbed she was and put on an almost worried look.

“Sit down,” he said and pointed towards the bed. Scared to disobey his orders again by rather following the hotel rules, Aka climbed onto the bed and sat down, legs crossed, facing him.

“It’s fine if you want to stay and calm down for a bit. I don’t mind.”

Aka nodded, still shaking. A moment that felt like an eternity passed. Then another eternity passed in which nobody said anything. The doubts in Akas head grew louder with every second. 

She was a burden to her master. This behaviour was inexcusable.

She stared at the door and decided that she would leave. Immediately. If she could just get to the elevator fast enough-

“I can see you looking at the door, you know,” the Announcer said, not removing his gaze from her.

“I’m sorry for declining your offer at lunch,” she said quickly and moved her head from the door to the Announcers single glowing eye. His regular bored expression changed to something she could only interpret as intrigued.

“Continue,” he said and folded his claws in his lap.

“I was stuck in a dilemma. The hotel code forbids drones from dining anywhere but our own quarters.”

When he didn’t answer she got up and prepared to jump down from the bed.

"What‘s your name?“ the Announcers sudden question made her stop in motion.

"Huh?“

"I never asked your name. What is it?“

She slowly sat back down on the bed.

"My name is Aka,“ she replied.

"Nice to meet you, Aka.“ 

He stretched out his gloved claw towards her. Hesitantly she grabbed one of his fingers and somewhat made a movement resembling a handshake. The difference in size made it hard to coordinate their movements.

“Would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?” he further asked as he retracted his claw and leaned back in the armchair.

“I am convinced you’re dealing with a lot of things in your life.”

"With all due respect, my Showmaster, I really have nothing to tell that would be of interest for somebody like you.“

"I think you do. You could start with telling me what‘s the deal with those two idiots outside and why they want to see you dead.“

His words sent cold shivers down Akas spine. Was it really that bad? Did she need to fear for her life?

The Announcer noticed that he had made the situation worse and cleared his throat to win back her attention.

"That won‘t happen, okay?“ he said but Aka was lost in thought.

"Look at me,“ he said in a more firm voice and she obeyed.

"I‘ll walk you to the lobby. And report them to security. They won‘t be able to hurt you anymore. You‘re safe.“

The word _safe_ snapped something deep inside of her. She clenched her claws to fists.

"Safe,“ she repeated and squinted down at her feet.

"I am never _safe_. Have you seen how easily they could have ratted me out to the brains? I would be deactivated by now if-“ she failed to complete the sentence and covered her mouth with both claws. 

"There we go. Continue,“ the Announcer grinned at the drone and waved his hand in approval.

Aka could not believe what was happening right now. There was no way he‘d be actually interested in what she had to tell him about being small and helpless and being talked down by everyone and-

She continued to rant on about her job and status in society for an hour, fueling her rage with every new detail from her life that she remembered, spiraling down further with every story she dug up from her past. How guests would ignore her even when she would speak to them and try to do her job, how she‘d be laughed at more often than any of the taller drones, how she would always need to take the stairs because she could not reach the buttons in the elevator, how she needed a stool to be able to work the reception.

She gesticulated like crazy explaining all the horrible things she had to endure and to her surprise, he did not cut her off once. He just sat in silence, looking at her with this intrigued face, nodding in approval every once in a while. 

"And then she actually made **me** clean up the coffee that she had spilled over the counter because she said I‘d be _more suitable to do the job_ as if that had to do literally anything with my size?? I can barely reach the counter, if anything, **she** would have been more suitable for the job!“

Aka took a deep breath and the Announcer shifted in his armchair. They had been at this for almost two hours.

"What a bitch,“ he finally said and Aka nodded, swallowing down the knot that had been building up inside her throat. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of her customer.

"I‘ve been up for days…“ she sniffed and rubbed her huge pink eyes.

"They haven‘t shortened my tasks since I got assigned to you, so I‘ve just been working at night catching up on what I couldn‘t manage during the day…“

"That is awful,“ the Announcer said in an actually outraged tone.

"I will have to talk to the manager about this,“ he continued and got up from the armchair.

"Now?“ Aka felt the panic rising up again.

"No, you can‘t do that! They‘ll find out that I talked to you about this and that‘s against the rules! They‘ll fire me or worse-“

He had already put on his cloak and was halfway through the door.

"Just trust me,“ he said and gave her that smug grin again before leaving the room.

* * *

It did not take long until the Announcer returned to the penthouse. Already expecting what he was about to see he carefully closed the door, cautious to not wake the little drone that was sleeping in the lower left corner of the king sized bed. She barely left a dent in the thick mattress meant for Irkens many times her size. He dropped his cloak to the floor as well as his shoes and stood next to the bed, considering his options.

He had left fully aware that she would probably fall asleep on the bed due to her long time sleep deprivation, but he had not considered how he would handle the situation from here.

The bed was big enough for two Irkens his size, and Aka lay on the far lower end of it. Usually he‘d never even consider allowing any being to sleep in the same bed as himself, but the little drone really started to grow on him. He could have just let her leave when she wanted to, but he didn‘t. He wanted her to stay.

He carefully took one of the two blankets and covered the sleeping drone with it, then he lay down on the other side of the bed, awkwardly moving as closely to the edge of it as he possibly could.

* * *

Another hour passed but he was nowhere close to falling asleep. He lay awake listening to the soothing small breaths that the service drone made and wondered if she had ever shared the bed with another Irken. He caught himself admitting that he didn‘t want her to ever share a bed with anyone else. 

He wanted to be the only one.

The only one she‘d work for. And the only one she would obey. An almost impossible wish considering that with her size, she‘d have to obey literally any Irken she met in the outside world. He didn‘t like the thought.

Aka made a silent whimper and rolled up under the way too gigantic blanket. He looked over and had the sudden urge to soothe her. He just wanted to hold her, protect her from whatever horrible things this cold society made her do. She was so small, so helpless and-

He caught himself stretching out a claw towards her tiny body and quickly pulled it back.

This had to wait.

He had to wait.


	5. We Need To Talk

Aka was woken by the beeping sound of her communicator receiving an urgent message. She emerged it from her PAK, rubbed her eyes and dizzily looked at the small device. She needed a moment to adjust her eyes to be able to read it.

**My Office. Now. -Manager Yarb**

She suddenly was very awake and aware of what had happened last night. She shot up from the bed and turned around to look at the other side of it, but it was empty. The sheets were tucked in tidily and the Announcer was nowhere to be found. 

Aka would have preferred to excuse herself instead of just leaving, but she had no time. Manager Yarb was nobody she could leave waiting.

She jumped down from the bed and sprinted out of the room towards the managers office. She’d just have to explain herself to her Showmaster later.

* * *

“You haven’t checked in at the drone quarters last night,” the tall-ish blue eyed Irken said while fixing the sleeves of his fancy uniform. He sat in a big chair behind an even bigger office desk, Aka stood on the other side of it. There was no second chair.

“Explain.”

She took a deep breath and looked up to her boss with a determined face. She was a horrible liar.

“My customer, our Showmaster, had a lot of work to do. He asked for my assistance, so I stayed at his quarters all night to help out.”

The manager put on a thoughtful expression and then gave her an awkward grin, as if he had found out something forbidden. 

“Oh, I see. Of course you helped out your customer the whole night... I wasn't expecting anything less from a drone as eager and... _cute_ as you are.”

The way he stressed the word _help_ made Aka feel sick. She forced a smile and took a step back towards the door.

“May I be excused, Manager Yarb?”  
Her question made him give her a displeased look.

“You may. But don’t think you can start bending the rules and avoiding your duties at the hotel today, just because your employment ends tomorrow.”

She had already turned to leave but stopped. 

“What?” she asked way more shocked than intended, unable to control her voice. The manager frowned at her despicable behaviour.

“Our great Showmaster came to my office himself, just to personally conclude your delivery to the television broadcast station. Your transfer is tomorrow.”  
He sounded proud. Proud that one of _his_ drones was good enough for Irks great Showmaster.

Yet again, Aka was unable to process what just had happened. He made a gesture with his claw that symbolized that she was excused. She left the office in a hurry.

* * *

“Open up!” she shouted and banged her fists on the penthouse door. She was no longer in the mood for etiquette. 

The Announcer opened the door and she rushed past him, stopping after halfway crossing the dim room and turning towards him with an angry glare.

“You said I would have time until tomorrow to decide!” she yelled and earned a surprised look from the taller. He had been in the middle of getting dressed, she could tell because he was only wearing one of his boots.

“I never agreed to this!” she continued, only barely keeping her voice from breaking.

“You can’t just...- I didn’t- I won’t come with you!” she stomped her small foot onto the floor and fearlessly squinted up towards him. 

A moment of silence passed, he looked almost amused which made the tiny Irken even angrier.

“Say something!” she yelled at him and immediately regret what she just had said. Expressing an order towards a taller was a serious crime. Her PAK made a clicking noise. It had taken a note of her disobedience. 

The Announcer walked past her, still with that amused look on his face, and sat down on the armchair to put on his second shoe.

“You should thank me,” he hummed and got up again. 

“You said it yourself, you hate this place. Someone had to do something. And you would have been too weak to take the steps necessary.”

She frowned at his calm words and clenched her teeth. He slowly walked around the room picking up different clothing items to put on, circling her like prey.

“And I can’t blame you. At your status it would have been a huge risk asking for a transfer. I just sped up the process.” He threw over the huge red cloak and picked single feathers into place while looking into the hallway mirror.

Outraged, she rushed past him and went for the doorknob. But just as she opened the door he suddenly stood over her and firmly pushed it shut again. Aka startled at the sudden loud sound and squeaked.

She looked up to him in shock. His red eye had lit up more intensely than usual, plunging the dim room into a menacing red glow. He forced Aka to step back from the door.

“You stay until I command you otherwise, drone,” he hissed between clenched teeth. 

“As a customer AND a taller Irken than you are, I won’t tolerate this kind of behaviour.”

Horrified, she quickly stepped backwards and tripped over a bunch of clothing lying around on the floor. She didn’t fall badly, but her surprised gasp was enough to snap him out of his rage.

The red glow of his eye decreased and his frown was replaced with a concerned look. He took a step back to give her enough space to get up on her feet again.

They stood in silence for a second, awkwardly avoiding eye contact until he spoke up again.

“You belong to me now, so I suggest you get used to it,” he said calmly, almost in a sad tone. He then stepped aside so the path to the door was open for her.

“I have a meeting with the tech crew for the big show tomorrow. We need to get going.”

Aka nodded, fixed her uniform and escorted him outside.


	6. Operation Impending Doom

TW Non-Consensual Touching (SFW)

* * *

The next morning they sat in silence for the entirety of the cab drive. Aka did not look up from her lap even once, the Announcer intensely stared out of the window. This time they were not driving to the nearby television station but the Main Convention Hall of Conventia. 

It was early, and the Announcer was at his third cup of coffee. He had offered Aka one back at the hotel lobby, but she had declined out of spite. She hadn‘t gotten a lot of sleep in the past night, so she regret that decision now. 

The frightening situation from the day before had kept playing over and over before her eyes at night, creating a growing sense of fear for her new master.

The cab finally stopped in front of the Convention Hall and Aka startled at the fuzz that was going on all around them. Hundreds, though probably thousands Irken Invaders had arrived and stood in line to enter the giant metal stadium. Aka gulped at the thought of having to set a foot onto the street.

"Bring us up to the Press Area,“ the Announcer hissed at the cab driver, visibly annoyed that they hadn‘t already known where exactly to set them down.

The cab rose up from the street again and docked onto a landing platform high up inside the building. Aka let out a sigh of relief.

"Stupid service drones-,“ the Announcer mumbled and got out of the cab. Aka ran after him.

They crossed a multitude of staff-only backstage hallways on their path towards his actual workplace, the commentator booth. Aka had seen him broadcast from the place many times before, usually on TV. It was a small area between the spectator terraces with a perfect view on the main stage from which their Almighty Tallest would launch Operation Impending Doom.

The Announcer rushed through the hallways with an enormous speed, and Aka could soon see why. On the hallway well over a dozen journalists, photographers and other press staff addressed her master with all sorts of questions. They either wanted to take a picture of him, requested an interview or wanted him to sign stuff. He casually pushed aside anyone who stood in his direct path, Aka followed closely so she would not be separated.

Once they arrived at the booth he held the door open just long enough so Aka could rush in behind him and then slammed it shut. She exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Nasty, isn’t it,” he stated, targeting the room instead of looking at Aka. Aka nodded, also looking at the room instead of him.

The booth featured one long table stuffed with different microphones and various sound mixing equipment as well as tons of screens that broadcasted close up shots of the stage. The front wall was a big window from which she could oversee the entire stadium. It was about half full, they still had an hour to set up before the event started.

The Announcer sat down on the one chair that belonged to the console and started pressing buttons. Aka stood beside him awkwardly not knowing how to help out. This type of situation was beyond what she had learned at the hotel.

* * *

Mere minutes before the official start of the event the stadium was completely filled up with Irken Invaders. Some service drones from the television station had joined them inside the commentator booth, running tests and filling the Announcer in on the newest information on the show. They seemed to have a certain routine, they must be long time coworkers of his.

What bothered Aka was that the drones behaved somewhat...weird. They’d flinch every so often when the Showmaster started talking, were always in a rush and avoided, but eyed Aka intensely. Was she doing something wrong?

A drone with blue eyes and speckled skin eventually climbed up on the console and waved around with a clipboard.

“Everyone, we’re on air in **60 seconds**!” he shouted and all the drones started picking up their paperwork and leaving the room. Aka turned to follow them but was stopped by a firm grip on her shoulder. The Announcer pulled her closer to the console and smiled down into her irritated face.

“You’re staying,” he whispered as if he wanted to keep it a secret. 

“You’re my talisman for today's show.“

The speckled drone shot a quick glance at them and then left the room as well, pulling the heavy door shut behind him.

“Watch closely, Aka,“ the Showmaster smiled and pulled down a huge microphone from the ceiling.

“It‘s called _acting_.“

* * *

" **WELCOME INVADERS!** “ the Showmasters forceful voice echoed from the speakers through the Convention Hall Center and the crowd started cheering.

"Welcome to Conventia! It has finally come, today is the day of the Great Assigning for **Operation Impending Doom!** “

As the crowd cheered even louder Aka recognized that there was a camera broadcasting video footage of her new master onto the holo screens inside the stadium. Aka, scared she might be in the frame, ducked down under the console.

The Announcers eye twitched into her direction very shortly, checking where she had gone but quickly turning back to his task.

"Galactic Conquest has finally begun! The mighty Irken race will soon rule over the entire universe!“

He wore an extremely wide smile on his face, gesticulating excitedly with his claws and overall being a completely different person than who Aka had experienced in the past few days. She was drawn to the act, fascinated and terrified at the same time.

"Now salute for your all-knowing, all-powerful leaders, the **Almighty Tallest!** “ he shouted and flipped on/off switch on the microphone as the cheering of the crowd grew louder and louder.

He fell back into the chair and his wide smile immediately changed into a disgusted frown. Aka stared at him irritated.

"Can you keep a secret?“ he asked without looking down at her.

Aka slowly emerged from her hiding spot and walked towards him. His gaze was fixed on the main stage where Tallest Red and Tallest Purple were waving at the crowd. Lasers shot into all directions.

"I can‘t stand them. Is that weird?“ the Announcer moved his glance towards Aka and waited for an answer. 

"I…I don‘t know, my Showmaster,“ she said and looked down at the stage.

"They seem fine to me. And they only want the best for Irk and the Irken race.“

The Announcer sighed, evidently disappointed. He then leaned down, grabbing Aka and lifting her up into the chair. It all went so fast that Aka couldn‘t even squeak in surprise.

She found herself sitting on his lap, paralyzed by fear. He kept staring out of the window, his giant claws resting on Akas shoulders.

"Just look at them,“ he growled and squinted down at their leaders. 

"They are idiots. Not fit to rule the mighty Irken empire.“ 

He grabbed her shoulders slightly more forcefully and she started sweating. Not knowing what to say she nodded panicky.

“The lasers are a tad much,” she spat out between clenched teeth. He released one of his claws from his grip on her and picked up a piece of paper filled with notes.

“It’s not the lasers…” he murmured while checking in with the script for his next entrance. His second claw now rested on her head. It was extremely heavy.

“Thinning out the Irken Elite soldiers all over the universe like that is foolish of them. Irk is left with nothing but the most basic of military forces. What if we get attacked from the outside?” he started rubbing small circles into Akas head with his claw. She squeaked and pushed his claw off of her head by instinct. He smiled at the reaction of the small drone, as if her efforts were nothing to be taken seriously.

“Anyways,” he stated and put the piece of paper back on the console.

“My moderation will start again any minute now. I’d kindly advise you to not jump around the room like that again. It’s very distracting.”

Aka nodded and went to get up, but he held her back.

“I didn’t say you could _leave_ ,” he added and Aka slowly sat back down on his lap. He used one claw to pull down the microphone and the other to hold onto Akas trembling body, slightly squeezing her shoulder as if to soothe her.

“It’s fine little one…” he whispered and flipped the switch on the microphone to ON.

“I told you, you are safe with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a concept of the booth  
> https://www.instagram.com/p/CH0YkuZFDOa/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link


	7. Checkout

TW Gore

* * *

The Great Assigning may only have taken 3 hours, but those were hours Aka spent as a nervous wreck. The Announcer would vary the way he held her every so often, changing if he held her head, shoulders or put his claw onto her lap. She‘d flinch every time he moved, scared that he‘d squeeze her too firmly. It‘d be easy for him to accidentally crush her with a wrongly assessed movement.

Whenever he had to get back to moderation he would stop touching her, using both claws to either hold the microphone or do some gestures on screen.

But every time his moderation was over he‘d be back to petting her.

Eventually the event came to an end and he flipped the switch on the microphone for the last time, energetically leaning back into the chair and throwing Aka off balance. She bumped into his chest face first. When she pushed herself up again she stared directly into his huge glowing eye, mere inches separating their faces from each other.

His mouth formed a wide, self-righteous smile.

"How‘d you like the show?“ I hope you enjoyed your front row seat~“ he hummed in a very soft voice.

Aka stumbled backwards on her hands and knees to get away from his face, eventually crawling off his lap and jumping onto the sound mixing console. He let her go, mindfully observing every of her movements.

"You-...“ she hissed, but then didn‘t know how to continue.

Her PAK gave an angry growl at her considered disobedience. Nothing she could say would change anything anyways, and they both knew it.

The Announcer smiled at her bravery, acknowledging it with a nod of his head. 

"I only want what‘s best for you, Aka,“ he said in a friendly tone. 

"I hope you’ll be able to see that soon.“

A knock on the heavy metal door and the muffled sound of giggling broke the tense situation between them. The Announcer went to open the door and Aka jumped off the console just before two extremely tall Irkens entered the room.

"Sup Anno,“ one of them giggled and took a sip from a disposable soda cup. Aka stared up at her Almighty Tallest in disbelief. 

"We heard your speech. It was pretty lame,“ Tallest Red giggled and poked his right claw into the Announcers shoulder. He didn‘t budge.

"Where was the action, huh? And no lasers? They should give us the title of Showmasters instead of you!“ Tallest Purple threw the empty soda cup onto the floor of the booth and pulled another one out of thin air. The Announcer grinned at the two.

"I wouldn‘t want to steal your show, my Tallest,“ he said in a calm voice.

"After all, I‘m just here to provide a rough framework of the event. You‘re the ones doing the moderation.“

Tallest Red and Purple looked pleased at his answer. Then Purple spotted Aka.

"Hey!“ he shouted and pointed at her.

"That‘s not your drone.“

Tallest Red looked down at Aka too now.

"Yeah, what happened to the other one, huh? The little green one?“

The Announcer followed their gaze and looked at Aka in distress as if they had found out something forbidden.

"They...fell off the penthouse balcony. A tragedy, really. The hotel gave me this one as a replacement,“ he finally said and looked back at his Tallest.

Aka eyed her master citically. Neither did the penthouse have a balcony nor had she been hired as a replacement. 

"What a bad exchange,“ Purple chuckled.

"Yeah. This one‘s even smaller, I didn‘t even know they made ‘em this small!“ Red added.

"I bet she can‘t even hold up a table!“ Purple said and Red nodded in approval. The Announcer, like the professional actor that he was, smoothly put on an even wider fake smile. He looked actually amused at his leaders mocking Aka.

"With all due respect, my Tallest, but Aka is not, and will never be used as a table. She is my personal assistant.“

The Tallest snorted at his words and had a short laugh before Red gained control over his speech again. 

"Oh my- oh, it has a name??“

"Wow, you really are an odd one, huh,“ Tallest Purple said and leaned down to poke Akas forehead with his long claws. It hurt, but she tried not to react in any way. 

He poked again, harder this time, and she had to take a step backwards to avoid falling over.

"Pathetic,“ Purple snickered gladly as if he had just successfully conducted a scientific experiment.

"You know you don‘t **have** to always pick the worst service drones available, right? Just leave them to the food services, we can get you a better one,“ Red suggested. 

"Thank you, my Tallest. But I‘ll have this situation settled soon. There is no need for you to spend your precious time on this,“ the Announcer said.

The Tallest looked pleased at his words.

"Anyways we still got lots of cool leader stuff to do today-“ Tallest Red said and they both left the room.

"Cya, Mister Media!“ they chuckled again, proud of the nickname that Purple had just come up with.

Aka and the Announcer stared at them until they were out of sight, then the Announcer let out a loud sigh like he‘d been holding his breath for a long time.

"I see what you mean now,“ Aka said in a careful voice, checking her masters face for a reaction. When there wasn’t any she pulled the holo screen from her PAK and pointed at a specific column.

"We‘re not done for the day, my Showmaster,“ she addressed him professionally, trying to repress what just had happened during the past hours. He seemed to snap out of his emotional state too, straightening up and looking down at her attentively.

"We‘ll need the protocol of todays show for the station's records. They have them down in engineering, I‘ll go get them,“ she stated.

"Okay,“ the Announcer answered and turned back towards the booth.

"I‘ll close up here. Meet me at the Press Area dock in 5 minutes.“

She nodded and started rushing down the hallway towards the engineering department.

* * *

Aka had crossed a few hallways inside the surprisingly complex infrastructure of the Main Convention Hall when she stopped to pull up a map of the place from her PAK. She should have already arrived at engineering minutes ago, so she must have taken a wrong turn at some point.

In her attentive studying of the map she didn‘t notice the two figures sneaking up on her from behind. 

She felt her antennae twitch at a sudden sound but was pushed to the ground before she could react. A heavy weight rested on her chest, when she looked up she saw two Irkens standing over her, one with a bandaged face. He had his foot pressing down on her.

"We got you this time,“ the bandaged Invader hissed and put more weight on the foot he had pressed against Akas chest.

"You really were easy to find, following that flamboyant master of yours like a stupid pet.“

He took off his right glove, revealing his sharp claws while the second Invader checked the hallway for other Irkens.

"I‘m sure he won‘t want you anymore after we‘re done with you,“ he said and forcefully dug his claws into Akas neck.

She exhaled sharply at the strong pain and released the hotel communicator from her PAK, throwing it into the face of the bandaged Invader. It hit him right in the eye and he flinched back, giving Aka just enough time to shove him off her chest and get up on her feet. He immediately jumped back at her again, leaving deep scratches on her arm and chest. Aka bit into the bandaged Invaders arm and he pulled it back, growling at her furiously. 

He discharged a nasty looking gun from his PAK but was suddenly brushed off her and slammed into a wall.

Aka propped herself up on her elbows and wiped a concerning amount of pink blood off her face before looking over to the bandaged Invader.

The Announcer stood between them, furiously eyeing the two Invaders.

"I‘ve had it with you two,“ he growled and took off his cloak. It dropped to the ground like a giant dead animal, sending feathers flying everywhere. 4 enormous metal legs emerged from his PAK and shot towards the Invader with the bandage.

They impaled him, stayed stuck inside his chest and stomach for a short moment and then jerkily pulled out again.

What was left of the Invaders body flopped to the ground, pink blood spilling over the blue metal flooring mixed with some mangled remains of his Squeedlyspooch. Aka choked and averted her eyes from the gruesome sight. 

The second Invader had turned to escape but the Announcer grabbed him by the PAK and clasped his claws vigorously. Sparks shot from the demolished PAK as he ripped it off the Invaders back and dropped it on the floor. The Invader threw up his hands in defeat.

"I never touched her!“ he yelled out in fear and the Announcer paused, then looked back at Aka.

"Is that true?“

Aka nodded and the Announcer retracted the metal legs, squinting at the demolished Invader PAK on the floor.

"Seems like you only have 10 more minutes to live. If I were you, I would hurry,“ he said with an expressionless face. The Invader nodded and ran away.

Once the Invader was out of sight Aka tried to get up, but she was shaking too badly from the shock and exhaustion of the fight. She stumbled and the Announcer quickly turned towards her, getting down on his knees and propping her up. 

“How badly are you hurt?” he asked and carefully pressed his thumb onto the bleeding wound on her neck. Aka cringed at the painful touch. He turned to pick up his cloak from the ground and pressed it onto her neck instead of his thumb, then he picked up both Aka and the cloak and carried them in his arms.

“We’ll have you fixed in no time,” he said, more towards himself than Aka.

“You’ll be okay.”

* * *

The Announcer brought Aka to the Medical Department of the _Conventia Inn._ She had been responsive over the entire drive to the hotel, but he had chosen not to talk to her. He was aware that she might not react positively to any of his advances.

The drones at Medical had advised him to leave while they fixed up Akas injuries, so he roamed around the lobby for an awful long time. The other guests eyed him critically but kept a safe distance to the brooding taller. The two purple eyed receptionists had watched him startle the guests in the lobby for some time when the taller one finally got up and approached him.

“My Showmaster,” she addressed him and he snapped out of his trance.

“I mean no disrespect, but you are troubling our other guests. Would you mind taking...whatever is going on somewhere outside the lobby?” She bit her lip, expecting to get yelled at but he just stared down at her, looking troubled.

“Okay,” she sighed and folded her claws in front of her stomach like Aka always did.

“How about you visit your room and we will message you immediately once Aka has left Medical?” At this point the entire lobby was eyeing the distressed tall Irken and the small receptionist disturbing the flow of the hotel's routine.

He finally nodded and left the lobby without any more words.

The receptionist looked back at her coworker confused.

* * *

The drones at Medical had Aka fixed up in no time. The only serious wound she had suffered from the fight were the holes in her neck, but even those the drones had treated and bandaged in a few minutes. Nobody asked her how these injuries had come to be. Service drones were used to their kind being treated carelessly.

Aka sat on her plank bed for a long time after the treatment, not knowing what to do. The gruesome butchery she had just witnessed still played over and over in her head, sending chills down her spine. 

Eventually a medical drone spotted her just hanging around and approached her.

“You’re ready to go,“ they said, not looking up from their clipboard.

"What’s your department?“ 

"Personal drone,“ Aka sighed and scratched the bandages on her head.

"You should leave, then. Your master must be sick with worry,“ the medical drone said and marked something on the clipboard.

"I bet he is…“ Aka grumbled. They looked at each other for another moment.

"That bad, huh?“ the medical drone then asked with more compassion in their voice. They then pointed at Akas neck.

"Was that them?“ they asked and Aka shook her head.

"He’s another type of unpleasant.“

* * *

Shortly after Aka stood in front of the penthouse door, just looking at it.

The two receptionists had led her here, saying that her master had been scaring the guests down at the lobby with his fidgety behaviour. She could barely imagine what that must have looked like.

Many thoughts crossed her mind. How they had fought the last time she had visited this room. How scary he had been when he killed that Invader. But most of all, how uncomfortable he had made her during the moderation of Operation Impending Doom.

She closed her eyes and tried to think positively. He didn‘t exactly lie when he said he only wanted the best for her back at the commentator booth. He listened to her, that was nothing a taller Irken had ever done. 

She was still struggling when the door suddenly opened and the Announcer almost bumped into her.

"Oh, Aka!“ he shouted and fell down to his knees, embracing her. 

"I was messaged that you‘ve left Medical a while ago, I was scared the other Invader might have-“ he cut himself off, not wanting to speak it out.

Aka said nothing. She didn‘t dare to move or even breathe. His embrace was exceptionally careful, he was just slightly squishing her into his soft turtleneck. It was still extremely scary to her.

He let go of her but didn‘t get up from the floor just yet, eyeing her bandages.

"How are you feeling?“ he asked and carefully pushed her chin to the side so he could see the bandage around her neck. She frowned at all the unwanted touching.

"I‘m fine,“ she pouted and pushed his claw off her face. He let it happen.

"I was just getting ready to check out,“ he got up from the floor and walked into the room. She followed him.

"Take a seat, I‘ll be done here soon,“ he started picking up random paperwork from the floor and stuffed it into a suitcase, crinkling them beyond saving in the process. It was almost entertaining to see him fail at this simple task. Usually a service drone would do these kinds of things for him.

He either didn‘t notice or didn‘t care because he picked up another stack of papers and repeated the process.

"Master…“ Aka closed in on him and picked at his pants.

"That‘s not how you transport paperwork.“

He looked up from the mess he had created and then down at Aka.

"I think you‘re right…“ he said and stopped what he was doing to sit down on the bed. Aka climbed onto the bed after him.

He‘d never admit it, but Aka assumed he was still mixed up from what had happened. An Irken of his status has probably never used their PAK to fight before.

They sat next to each other for a while until Aka realized they were probably past the hotels checkout deadline. She took a deep breath.

"I never agreed to move to the television station with you,“ she finally said, barely holding back her tears. The Announcer gave her a sad look.

"I know,“ he sighed and pulled a bag filled with monies from a suitcase that lay on the bed.

"Here‘s your tip,“ he dropped the bag next to her and got up.

"I was going to give this to whichever drone would be my personal assistant at his hotel. I didn‘t give it to you sooner because it felt...weird. Just see it as compensation for the troubles of the last days. I‘ll pay you a better rate starting now.“

She looked at the bag, unable to make out the exact amount through her watery eyes. It was a lot.

"We have to check out now,“ he said in a quiet voice and picked up his luggage by himself.

Aka did not get up from the bed.

“You lied to the Tallest back then. You fired your last drone, even before I first picked you up from the station, didn‘t you?“ 

He hesitantly nodded. 

She felt tears rolling down her cheeks but did not try to stop them this time.

The Announcer put the suitcases away and sat down onto the floor in front of the bed. For this one moment, they were at eye level. He carefully stroked his gloved claw over her face, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“You look so broken when you cry…” he whispered, looking genuinely sad. Aka buried her face in her claws.

“Saying _no_ was never an option for me, was it?” she finally managed to ask between her sobs. The Announcer paused for a moment, then he shook his head. 

“Come now, Aka,“ he got up from the floor and opened the hotel room door for her.

"I‘m sure you‘ll like your new life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I‘ll have to take a break writing this -for now- because other projects got in the way.  
> You can follow my Twitter or Instagram @khaliarart for my Announcer artwork (which is always canonically tied to this fanfic).  
> But I will come back and continue this in the not so far future when I have the time to!


	8. TV Station

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I found some free time and I‘m back to writing this for now. Updates will come somewhat irregularly from now on.  
> Here's some more Aka artwork- https://www.instagram.com/p/CI1aiJxl-o7/?igshid=qlziemw3in82

The automatic door in front of Aka made a disgruntled noise. She pushed the OPEN button again, harder this time, triggering another noise. She repeated the process a few times, drawing the attention of the other service drones on the hallway towards her. 

The Announcer had sent her to this room first thing after arriving at the television station, so why would the door not open? Was this the wrong place?

She opened up her PAK screens only to realize she didn’t have a map of the station yet. In fact, she had no information on the place at all. 

Aka began cussing at the door when two service drones suddenly approached her, one almost dragging the other behind them.

“Heya!” the first drone shouted as they came to a halt next to the closed door. She was taller than Aka, with pink eyes and evenly curled antennae bouncing on the sides of her head. Aka recognized the second Irken from the commentator booth at the Main Convention Hall. It was the blue eyed drone with the speckled skin that had timed the start of the show. 

“Name’s Jam,” the drone with the pink eyes bowed down and pushed the second Irken to do the same.

“And this is Dot. We saw you were having troubles with our security system.”

Jam pressed the OPEN button on the door and her PAK made a quiet beeping sound in return. The door opened.

“Thanks a lot! I’m Aka, by the way,” she answered, looking at the now open door. The room behind it was dark.

“Hi Aka! You’re new here, right? Dot told me that the boss has only recently hired you. We all just moved here together a few days ago, the new station is so much more glamorous than the old one- Oh! We should totally show you around!”

Dot made a frightened face and grabbed her by the sleeve.

“Hush Jam! We don’t know what he has planned for her. We should just leave...”

“Don’t be a wimp, Dot. She’s new and has been through a lot, the least we can do is show her the place.”

“That won’t be necessary,” a sharp voice said from high above their heads. Dot and Jam startled at the Announcers sudden entrance.

“You two are being missed in the recording room. We’re on a tight schedule.”

The two drones nodded and immediately ran off. Aka looked after them confused.

“Should I go help them out? They seem to be under a lot of pressure,” she stated and looked up at her master. He shook his head.

“This isn’t your task to deal with. I see you’ve met the security system,” he said towards the now open door.

“We’ll need to upgrade your PAK with the necessary access rights, I’ve already ordered the responsible technician. They will be here tomorrow.” 

Their conversation felt very strange to Aka. Just an hour ago he had seen her crying on a hotel bed, and now they were standing in her new home discussing access rights and security systems like nothing ever happened. She was troubled by the situation and barely keeping herself from crying again. 

“I’ll show you around as soon as possible,” he continued.

“But sadly I have another appointment to tend to, it’ll probably take me the rest of the day. You just make yourself at home and cure your injuries until I’m back.”

Aka straightened up at the order and nodded.

“Of course, my Showmaster. I’ll await your return at the drone quarters.”

She looked down the hallway and then back up at the Announcer again.

“If I knew...where they were,” she added and smiled insecurely.

“You’re not staying at the drone quarters,” the Announcer replied with a smile.

“This is your room,” he pointed at the open door.

Aka squinted at the dark room that lay before them. From what she could tell it was quite big, about the size of the penthouse at the _Conventia Inn_. Before examining it any further she turned back towards the Announcer.

“You’re kidding. This is a room for a taller. No way they'd let me stay here”

“I run the place, Aka. And I’m giving the room to you,” he said firmly.

“Make yourself at home, and don‘t expect me to be back before dawn,” he added and turned to walk off towards the hangar.

Aka didn’t answer anything.

* * *

“Whatever took you **this** long, Anno?!” Tallest Red complained with his mouth full of chips. Some flew out of his mouth and hit a little table service drone beside the couch the Tallest were sitting on. Purple laughed at the drones disgusted reaction. Behind them was a huge screen that was playing some sort of space shooter video game.

“My Tallest, I assure you I came as fast as I could,” the Announcer answered in a most collected tone, even smiling at his Tallest. The act demanded his everything, he had been more than upset being called onto the _Massive_ this late in the afternoon and without a warning.

“We have a situation,” Red coughed and shoved more snacks into his already filled to the rim mouth. It was hard to watch.

“One of our Invaders single handedly busted Operation Impending Doom. We have to cancel the entire thing, and we have to tell everyone. We count on your competence in handling the media,” Red continued while Purple took a sip from two soda bottles at once. They did not seem disturbed at all. The Announcer frowned.

“You’re calling off the entire operation…?” he asked in disbelief. The Tallest both nodded and turned back towards their game. 

“What happened to the Invader?” the Announcer kept asking.

“And Irk? How many casualties have we suffered-”

Purple sighed loudly and dropped his controller on the floor, cutting the Announcer off.

“Your questions **bore** me, Anno. Don’t you have a job to do?” 

“Yeah, go get the situation under control,” Red added as they both eyed their guest brashly over the backrest of the couch.

The Announcer took a deep breath and clenched his claws to fists.

 **CONTROL YOURSELF** his PAK hissed at him.

**THEY’RE YOUR TALLEST**

He shook off the negative thoughts and put on an even wider forced smile.

“My Tallest, I need more information if I want to be able to share the news with your people. In what light would it put the Almighty leaders of Irk if I were to broadcast incomplete facts on our biggest mission yet? This is a very delicate situation, and it must be handled with utmost caution.”

“You talk fancy,” Red chuckled at the Announcers words and Purple nodded.

“Yea, you’re acting so smart all the time. You really could have made it far. Too bad you’re a _defective_ ,” Purple giggled and shoved an entire donut into his mouth.

The Announcers eye widened in shock at Tallest Purples words. The steering and technician Irkens around them that were operating the _Massive_ suddenly started whispering to each other, a certain agitation flooded the ships bridge.

“My Tallest,” the Announcer said quickly in an effort to deescalate the situation and took a step towards the couch.

“We all know this isn’t correct. The case had been a misunderstanding!”

Tallest Red and Purple shrugged almost in synch, obviously not caring.

“Whatever man. Just leave already,” Red said with more emphasis in his voice than usual.

“But I’ll need more info-” the Announcer protested before being cut off by Purple.

“Ask communications. They probably have a report or something”

The Tallest turned back to their game and stopped paying him any attention. He signed and left the bridge the way he had come, only stopping at the far end where communications had their consoles. A yellow eyed Irken wearing a uniform with an extremely high collar that covered most of their face handed him a small cassette.

“You know how they are, Anno. Don’t take it personally.”

The Announcer took the cassette and grunted towards the couch. More steering Irkens looked up from their consoles to either look or even wave at him.

“It’s nice seeing you again,” the yellow eyed irken continued, smiling hesitantly.

“We almost didn’t recognize you. None of us figured that it had been you all this time...you know, on TV. How have you been?”

“I couldn‘t be better,” the Announcer mumbled before leaving the bridge in a rush.

* * *

Aka had sat down on the bed shortly after her masters departure, just playing around with the small ribbon that was tied around the turtleneck of her receptionist uniform. Moving in went very quickly, she didn‘t own anything except for the clothes on her body.

The bed she sat on was huge, meant for an Irken many times her size. The pillow alone was big enough for her to sleep on. 

The room further featured a window in which she could see the nighttime skyline of planet Conventia as well as a work desk with a chair that was too big for her to get up on. The room felt dark and unwelcoming to her, she just could not figure out why.

After what felt like an eternity of existential dread she heard a firm knock on the door. 

"I don‘t know how the door opens,“ she said and it opened with a silent beeping sound. The Announcer stood before it.

"May I enter?“ he asked.

"I don‘t think that‘s my choice to make, my Showmaster. But you may,“ Aka answered. He slowly stepped into the room and sat down next to her on the bed, keeping a safe distance. Then he looked up and around the room.

"The decor in here is awful,“ he stated after a moment of silence and Aka chuckled. He was right.

"I‘ll have the desk and chair replaced with something you can actually work with. Is there anything else that I can get you?“

Despite his nice words, the red glow of his eye created an unsettling atmosphere in the room. Aka anxiously kneaded her claws, uncertain how to respond. She had never had quarters of her own, and she didn‘t know what was supposed to be in a room in the first place. All types of furniture that she knew from the common hotel rooms were already here.

"I‘m fine. Thanks, master,“ she finally answered and remembered why he was visiting this late in the first place.

"How did your appointment go?“

He groaned at her question and buried his face inside his gloved claws.

"Horrible. I‘ll be busy fixing this mess for days, maybe even weeks,“ he sighed and Aka moved closer towards him.

"It‘s a good thing you got me then, huh?“ she said and straightened up.

"I‘ll gladly coach you through this nightmare pile of boring appointments.“

He removed his claws from his face and smiled at her. Aka felt this wasn‘t the smile she was used to seeing on television. 

"How are your injuries healing?“ he asked and reached one claw out for the bandages on her neck.

Aka frowned at the sudden unwelcome contact as he started stroking over the bandages on her neck, then touching her chest and arms where the other injuries were. She flinched at the pain and grabbed his fingers with both of her claws, trying to push them away from her body. He didn‘t respond to her gesture and continued kneading her clothed skin with his thumb, almost as if he was searching for something. She looked up and stared at him furiously in an effort to make eye contact, but he was busy looking at her gloved arm.

"Stop this,“ she finally hissed, but corrected her behaviour once she felt her PAK clicking.

"It hurts, master...I‘d rather not have you touch them...please.“

"You‘re so small,“ he mumbled and lifted her arm to examine it from the other side.

"I still can‘t believe it.“

The back of his hand shortly stroked her antennae by accident and Aka hissed at the high-pitched sound they mistook the touch for. He ignored her obviously pained expression.

"It was wrong of me to lie to you, about your transfer...“ he continued in a soothing voice while he pet her head, more careful not to touch the antennae again.

"I won‘t ever lie to you again. Can you forgive me?“

Aka squinted upwards from between his claws with a worried face.

"Of course, master,“ she answered in a doubtful voice.

He seemed satisfied with her answer and got up from the bed.

"Get some rest. I‘ll send you new instructions tomorrow.“

With that he left the room and the automatic door closed behind him, leaving Aka alone in the dark.

She immediately got up and violently shook her head trying to get rid of the tinnitus that had built up from him stroking her antennae. 

Her entire body was shaking and she suddenly had an itching sensation on her neck and chest where he had touched her. She started scratching her head and bandages to get rid of the feeling, taking off her gloves in the process to better reach the bandaged parts of her arm. She ended up ripping off all the bandages and threw them as far away into the big room as she could, where they vanished into the darkness.

"Okay,“ she whispered to herself, hugging her legs and driving her claws into her thighs.

"This is getting weird.“


	9. Irken News Channel

Early the next morning the Announcer had sent Aka a full map of the television station with instructions of where to meet him. 

She inspected the map through squinted eyes, barely able to read the holographic model through her blurry vision. She hadn’t been able to sleep a lot that night. 

The building had an overwhelming amount of departments. She could make out editing, marketing, publishing, the drone quarters and a huge recording room at the top of the building just below the tower that accommodated the transmitter systems.

Aka sighed at the sheer mass of information that she’d soon have uploaded into her PAK. 

She was suddenly taken aback by the thought. Information was always uploaded into a PAK by the building's main computer, with the Irken still attached to it...why did the Announcer call a technician who had to remove the PAK for the job? 

Her PAK popped up a holo screen with a message, covering the map of the building. She was new to this type of communication, at the hotel they had always used the communicators instead of sending messages through their PAKs.

**That was an order, by the way. Move it. -A.**

Aka squeaked and jumped up from the bed. Luckily, the door seemed to open from the inside even without her having the access rights. She ran down some hallways and took the stairs to get up to the main recording room. She had also spotted an elevator but already concluded that she would not be able to reach the button for the highest floor.

She encountered various service drones on her way up. They all wore uniforms, the colors seemed to change according to what department they worked at. The drones that were wearing purple carried complicated looking equipment with them, the ones dressed in red or orange usually had clipboards or paperwork with them. Everyone always seemed to be in a hurry.

At the top of the building she stepped into a huge room that was buzzing with life. It had an empty space at the center, the edges of the room were loaded with fancy looking equipment, headlights and screens. Cables lay everywhere on the floor, and in between the mess were at least 20 drones handling all sorts of tasks. They operated holo screens, sat behind the huge cameras or were carrying boom poles with microphones that were almost the size of their own bodies. 

Aka was overwhelmed by the sight.

“Oh my gosh, Aka! Over here!” an excited voice shouted at her from deeper inside the busy room. She looked around and spotted Jam. She was wearing a white uniform and operated the seemingly biggest camera in the room. Next to her stood Dot, wearing a black uniform and headset. He looked exhausted. Aka walked over to them and got a better look at the area that all the equipment was facing. 

A few stairs led up to a huge curved table. In front and behind of it were screens that displayed the logo of the _Irken News Channel._ The color palette of the set was almost exclusively blues and purples. Aka couldn’t see the Announcer anywhere.

“Where’s the Showmaster?” Aka asked with a general look around the room.

“He’s always late. Dramatic entrance or something,” Jam answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Seriously though, he really needs a personal assistant. You simply must make him be on schedule in the future, we are so exhausted by his work attitude.”

“Not only by his **work** attitude…” Dot added quietly. Jam's smile faded as she turned towards Aka.

"Our boss is...kind of hard to deal with at times. Then again, what taller isn't?“ she said and pointed at the elevator.

"Speaking of the devil, here he comes.“

The elevator hadn‘t opened yet, but the floor indicator above the closed door was just stopping on their current level.

"Everyone, on your positions!“ Dot yelled, grabbed a clipboard and climbed up the stairs towards the big table. The noise in the room immediately ceased when the elevator doors opened.

The Announcer stepped out of the Elevator, claws folded behind his back. He slowly strode through the room towards Dot, who bowed down and raised the clipboard over his head for the Announcer to take it. Aka moved closer towards Jam and her camera.

"The writing department has summarized the most important facts from the cassette you have provided, my Showmaster. You have 15 more minutes for changes until we‘re on air.“

The Announcer made a face that must have resembled raising an eyebrow, if he had had one.

"Just 15 minutes?" he asked and Aka could hear the entire crew were holding their breath.

"Yes, my Showmaster. My apologies, but we can‘t change the schedule. The 7am news do have to start at 7am sharp…“

"I’m late, Dot. Not stupid. Why hasn‘t anyone sent me the script in advance?“ the Announcer asked in a threatening tone and Dot raised his head to shyly glance at Aka.

"That...would have been the job of your personal assistant, master…“

The Announcer turned towards the rest of the drone crew. He hadn’t spotted Aka yet.

"Where is she?“ he asked out loud. Aka fixed her uniform and quickly climbed up the steps, stopping right in front of him.

"At your service, my Showmaster,“ she said and bowed down like Dot had done it before.

"I‘m sorry for the inconvenience. It won‘t happen again.“

The Announcer leaned down and carefully lifted Akas chin with the back of his claw.

"It’s not your fault,“ he said quietly.

"You didn‘t know any better. I will make sure you learn how to do your tasks from now on.“

Aka tried to nod but it was hard to do with him having a hold on her chin. He let go of her face and stood up again, taking the clipboard from Dot.

"We‘ll be on air in 14 minutes, and we have bad news for the people of Irk,“ the Announcer yelled at the crew.

"I need everything to go perfect, understood? We can‘t have any incidents today.“

The crew chanted “ _Yes, master“_ in unison as they powered up the equipment. The Announcer sat down behind the huge desk and took a look at the clipboard before him.

"It will need some changes,“ he said, probably talking to Dot but only looking at Aka.

"You can stay and watch, little one. Just don‘t interfere with the crew. Today's broadcast is...delicate, to say the least.“

Both drones nodded and Dot rushed off the stage. Before Aka could follow, the Announcer grabbed her by the shoulder. She grunted at the touch angrily, clenching her fists. He took notice of her reaction and chuckled, but removed his claw.

"You are going to be upset at me over this?” he retracted his claw back into the wide feathered sleeves of his cloak.

“I just wanted to wish you an enjoyable first day on set. I think you will like it.”

She squinted at him, then left the elevated part of the set without saying anything. He was visibly displeased by her reaction, keeping his eye fixed on her until she was back with Jam. They eyed each other intensely over the room for another second, then he turned back to the clipboard with a grunt.

“Aw man you did it. You upset him,” Jam whispered. Before Aka could answer Dot joined them.

“When the boss is upset, we all get to face the consequences. Though I must admit, I have never seen him this upset yet...so calm.”

“It’s her,” Jam suddenly expounded and looked at Aka.

“He won’t snap at her…,” Dot realized and stared at Aka too, in disbelief.

Aka remembered when he had slammed the door shut on her at the hotel and her confidence vanished.

“I...I don’t think it’s that easy…” she said quietly and dug her claws into her arms. The itching had started again.

Dot and Jam looked at each other concerned. They stood together in silence for a while until Dot sighed and turned to leave.

“The show will start any moment. I got director stuff to do.” With that he left for the stage again.

“Wait...Dot is the director?” Aka asked.

“Sure he is. Why did you think he has to take the blame all the time?” Jam chuckled in an effort to loosen up the situation.

“Everyone, we’re on air in **60 seconds**!” Dot suddenly yelled at the crew. Jam cussed and started pressing buttons on her camera.

Aka glanced at the Announcer. He was looking at her with a smug grin.

* * *

“Good morning people of Irk,” the Showmaster said with a sad smile on his mostly hidden face and his claws folded on top of the shiny table.

“Today, our beloved home planet Irk is facing a crisis of never seen before severeness. Yesterday one of our own elite soldiers, an Invader who goes by the name of _Zim_ , sabotaged Operation Impending Doom. Because of this incident, the Irken armada has suffered numerous casualties and was ultimately forced to halt Operation Impending Doom until further notice.”

Aka looked at Jam in confusion.

“Did you know about this?”

“We’re the news, Aka. Of course we knew,” Jam whispered without looking up from the camera viewfinder. 

“According to witness reports, the Invader has advised his crew to pilot a robotic assault walker directly into Irks capital, causing immense damage to the city and its inhabitants. Approximately one hundred Irkens have been killed during the attack, though many are still missing.”

Aka gasped at the horrifying news and Jam hushed her.

“We'll now cut to our field reporter who has more information on the subject,” the Announcer said and a window opened on the huge screen behind him. It showed a neatly dressed Irken reporter with light blue eyes, standing in the burning ruins of Irks capital. He was shaking and holding onto the microphone as if his life depended on it.

“Good morning my Showmaster, and good morning to the citizens of Irk and allied planets under the control of the Irken empire…” he said and turned towards the mess behind him.

“As you can see, a significant amount of buildings were destroyed during the attack yesterday. The fires have yet to be extinguished, and rescue services work around the clock to avoid further casualties from the falling debris. We cannot yet tell how many fatalities have occured, but a huge part of the victims were confirmed to be Invaders. The Irken armada is now missing most of their elite soldiers and Invaders, making the scheduled execution of Operation Impending Doom impossible. All thanks to _**Zim**_.”

“Who now is not a threat to the people of Irk anymore, if I recall correctly?” the Announcer asked, folding his gloved claws on the table before him.

“No, he is not. He was banished to planet Foodcourtia by our wise leaders, the Almighty Tallest, where he will spend the rest of his days as a food service drone.”

Aka could make out how the Announcer clenched his jaw at the mention of the Tallest. He must have really had a whole thing going on with them.

“Why was he not deactivated?” the Announcer asked nicely and the word _deactivated_ shot a cold shiver down Akas back.

“The authorities are busy cleaning up the mess, so he could not be put on trial immediately. The banishment to Foodcourtia was the quickest, most gruesome punishment that could be executed on this short notice.”

The Announcer thanked the reporter and turned back to Aka and the crew, ruffling the feathers on the hood of his cloak with both claws.

“Coffee,” Jam suddenly whispered, gaze fixated on the Announcer through the viewfinder of her camera. Aka looked at her cluelessly.

“He’s just fixed the cloak. He only does this once every show, it means we’ve hit the second half of the broadcast before the break. Tab took exactly 5 minutes to get down to the cantina and be back precisely when the show was over, I assume that’s how much time you have left.“

“Who’s Tab?” Aka asked.

“Doesn’t matter, the coffee has to be here when the break starts. Take the strong stuff.” 

“Was literally anybody going to tell me this?” Aka said, already turning to leave.

“I did right now,” Jam smiled.

* * *

It took Aka a bit over 8 minutes to run down to the cantina, grab the coffee and get back to the recording room. When she entered the room the Announcer stood next to the table talking to Dot. The broadcast must have ended already. Aka jumped up the stairs and lifted the coffee up for him to take it. She had taken the stairs again and was breathing heavily.

For a moment the Announcer seemed surprised, then he slowly took the cup out of her claws. 

“It seems you have made some friends around here...,” he said with a subtle glance into the room. Jam quietly hid behind the camera.

“Thank you, Aka. But I can only advise you to not always believe everything these drones tell you. Not everyone tells the truth, and you’d be too naive to tell.”

Aka frowned at the bold statement. 

“You barely know me, master,” she snapped back at him and heard Dot breathe in sharply behind her. 

The drones that were close enough to hear the conversation stopped doing what they were doing and glanced at the trio fearfully.

“Maybe we should settle this another time,” he said in a soothing voice, but Aka did not budge.

"You‘re so right, my Showmaster,“ Dot intervened and pulled Aka with him down the stairs. 

"We still have one more show scheduled for this morning, only afterwards we will have the time to introduce the new assistant to the way things work in here,” he continued while leading Aka towards the elevator. The Announcer sat back down in his chair while watching Aka being dragged away with a blank expression.

"You must have a death wish,“ Dot whispered while they were waiting for the elevator.


	10. PAK

**3:20**

**3:19**

**3:18**

The timer on the rim of Akas vision had been counting down from 10 minutes ever since the technician had removed the PAK from her back. She anxiously kneaded her claws while walking up and down the hallway in front of the equipment hall. The technician had been very nice, though this has been taking too long for her to stay calm. She could feel her energy decreasing, her vision turned more blurry with every second.

**2:45**

**2:44**

**2:43**

The Announcer hadn‘t been there when the technician arrived. He had just notified her where to meet him in a text message, she hadn‘t heard of him since.

Her legs started shaking and she had to sit down and prop herself up on the metal wall. Without her PAK regulating her body temperature the station felt so much colder.

She heard heavy footsteps and looked up into the Announcers droopy eye. He looked concerned.

“I wanted to come sooner,“ he said and checked the hallway for other Irkens, then sat down on the floor next to her.

“How are you feeling?“

“Miserable,“ Aka hissed and moved further away from him.

“I don‘t see why you would put me through the 10 minute countdown when the station has a perfectly fine main computer that could have done the reencoding. It‘s humiliating.“

“Integrated systems can fail when there‘s an unexpected power outage or other...incidents,“ he said with an emotionless face.

“This is the safer way of doing it.“

“Has this happened before? Here at the station?“ Aka asked and noticed that she was shaking from the cold now. He noticed it too.

“You‘ll be alright,“ he said and threw a part of his cape over her. She wrapped it around her shoulders, not having the energy to contest his advances this time.

**2:00**

**1:59**

**1:58**

“It’s down to the last 2 minutes, master…“ Aka said and grabbed the cape tighter.

“I feel sick.“

“I‘ll go check on the technician,“ the Announcer said and took off the cloak before getting up so she could keep it. He entered the equipment hall and Aka buried herself deeper in the soft red fabric. It was warm, but she hated the smell. It reminded her of when he kept her on his lap while narrating Operation Impending Doom. 

The Announcer came back out with the technician. He lifted the giant cloak off Aka and put it on again while the technician helped her get up and reconnected the PAK with her back.

The timer had hit 40 seconds when it disappeared and a few new folders popped up before her eyes. She saw the new security protocols, an advanced planner, various new contacts that must be crucial for the job and…

She stopped at a red folder. Folders were always blue, what could this one possibly-

The flaps on her PAK suddenly opened and something metal sounding dropped out on the floor. Aka jumped at the sound and turned her head to see what had happened. Behind her lay 4 long, metal legs with sharp ends. 

“We weren‘t sure if you could build up the neural network to operate them,“ the Announcer said and the technician pressed a few buttons on a complicated looking remote. The legs twitched.

“Try moving them.“

Aka stared at the two in shock.

“What-,“ she said and looked back at the dead metal legs on the floor. She felt the panic rising and squatted down on the floor, covering her head.

“What did you do to me,“ she whispered into her claws and the Announcer signaled the technician to leave.

“Aka…” he sighed and kneeled down on the floor.

“I did not take this decision lightly. Just try to cooperate with me here, I would never want to hurt you-“

“You did! You are doing it right now! You lied to me, this is not what we agreed on!“ she yelled at him and buried her head deeper in her claws.

“I‘m trying to help you! You‘re defenseless out there and you need the weapons should I ever not be able to save you.“

"Is this why you called in a technician to do the job? So I wouldn't notice what you actually did to my PAK?"

"That's not the only reason-" the Announcer started explaining but Aka cut him off.

“You...you put these things in...in my **brain**! Service drones are not built to operate weapons!“ Aka jumped up to get away from him and stumbled backwards against the wall. She dug her claws into it trying to steady herself. 

“What is all this...stuff? It‘s in my head it‘s-“ she coughed. She could hear the legs programming talking to her inside of her PAK. What they said was incomprehensible to her, but they were angry.

“Stop it!” she screamed at the legs and they started curling up and lifting themselves over her head.

They turned towards the Announcer who carefully took a step back.

“I’m not the enemy here, Aka,” he tried to explain while the PAK legs followed every of his movements.

“If anything like the attack at the Convention Hall ever happens again, you could die. And I won‘t let that happen.“

“This is not your decision to make!” she yelled and took a step towards him.

“I just wanted to protect you! Try to calm down,” he said with a distressed look at the pointed metal spikes that were inches from his face.

“We can talk about this.”

His words made her even angrier. Aka did not feel any control over the metal legs when one of them suddenly shot forward at the Announcers face. It hit him in the head and knocked off the helmet that was covering his face. He quickly grabbed the leg before it could retract, seemingly out of reflex. Aka squeaked in pain as the leg was not able to retract as intended. She could catch a glimpse of his face without the helmet. The green skin on his skull was weirdly dark and misshaped.

They stared at each other in shock for a second before the Announcer realized what had happened. He hastily dropped the PAK leg and pulled the feathered hood of his cloak over his head.

The sudden change in the distribution of weight threw Aka off balance but she was able to catch herself before falling. The metal legs dropped dead to the floor next to her, then retracted back into her PAK.

“Don’t say anything,” the Announcer sighed, picking up the matte green helmet from the floor while holding onto the hood over his head with the other claw.

“Just come with me.”

* * *

She silently followed him through the station to the floor just above the recording room, at the base of the transmission tower. The entire floor seemed to be the Announcers private quarters. It was a big open room with a sitting area and huge windows. Some doors led to other rooms, but those she could not spot from where she stood. 

The Announcer sat down in the sitting area and removed the feathered hood from his head. Aka took slow steps towards him, drawn to the macabre view before her. 

All skin that was hidden under the helmet was disfigured, most likely burned. Deep furrows distorted the usually smooth skull and forehead of the Irken. Two mangled stumps resembled what was left of his antennae, they looked like they had been cut off untidily. He actually had two red eyes, but they were narrow and bloodshot. 

He looked at her attentively while she sat down across from him, then put the helmet back onto his head, covering his actual eyes.

“I’m sorry you had to see that…” he said quietly and adjusted something on the headphones that were part of the helmet.

“I need the helmet to pick up audio. Without it, I’m basically deaf.”

“Your antennae…” Aka whispered and felt her own twitching.

“What happened?”

He stroked his claws over his face and took a deep breath.

“It was the Control Brains,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I used to work in communications, back when the _Massive_ was still being built. A system error during a routine checkup labelled me defective. They took me to the _Spike of Justice_ on planet Judgementia to be put under an Existence Evaluation. It should have been an easy trial, I thought the brains would let me go without consequence. But the trial was sabotaged. I don’t know who did it, but during the trial the system shut down, short circuiting the Control Brains. They had to be restarted with me still attached…” he scratched over the smooth surface of his helmet as if the skin below could feel it.

Aka had held her breath the entire time and now slowly exhaled.

“That is…” she coughed but could not find the words she was looking for. Horrifying? Unfair? Odd? She glanced at him in shock.

He tapped the pillow next to him, signaling Aka to come sit there. Hesitantly she obeyed and took a seat next to him. She held a ducked position, expecting him to reach out for her any second now. But instead he just continued talking, not even looking at her.

“Red came to me right after the incident. He knew I had been in the candidature for becoming Tallest myself. After what had happened I knew I would not be considered for the position anymore. So we made a deal. I’d voluntarily lay down the candidature for becoming Tallest, so him and Purple would be the only possible candidates. In return, he promised to give me the next highest rank available in the empire once he became Tallest. The role of Irks Showmaster.” 

Aka didn’t know what to say. She had not expected this level of intrigue to be behind this job.

“Neither of us chose this life,” he continued and folded his claws in his lap.

“We’re both just trying to survive in this system. You as well as me.” 

“We are not even close to being in the same situation, master. Don’t compare yourself to me,” Aka snarled angrily.

He smiled at her sudden outburst and got up from the cushions. Aka almost fell over from being brushed by the cloak.

“You can always come to this floor if you like. You’re the only drone that has access to it, maybe that could come in handy for you. Although I already know that you probably won’t want to.”

Aka nodded in defiance. A floor where only the two of them had access sounded like her worst nightmare. The Announcer looked out the window at the skyline of Conventia. They were extremely high up.

“It’s not that late yet. I was going to show you the station today, but I think you’d prefer to take the tour with Dot and his other friend.”

Akas eyes widened. He cracked a sad smile at her sudden excitement, and opened a yellow holo screen from his PAK.

“I’ll call them in.”

Aka saw him select Dot from the contacts list, he was the second contact right below the Tallest.

“He’ll meet you down at your quarters. I told him to bring his friend,” the Announcer said and took a step to the side so Akas path to the elevator was free. She got up and pressed the button for it to open.

“You can remote control this elevator from your PAK now, by the way,” he added and she looked at him confused.

“I had them add that feature...you know, since you can’t reach all of the buttons.”

The elevator doors opened. Aka did not step in yet, she was still searching for an answer.

“You don’t need to say anything,” the Announcer said and turned away.

“Have fun on your tour.”


	11. Tour

“We record up to 3 shows every day. There’s the Irken Morning News at 7, the regular news show at 12 and once a week we broadcast the late night show,” Dot explained while they were walking through the editing department. It was a large room with many rows of consoles that each had multiple screens attached to them. On them sat many drones that were typing things into holo screens and keyboards before them, most looked up and greeted Dot and Jam when they passed by.

“We do most recordings right here at the station. Our showmaster only leaves for recordings when it’s an important on-site sporting event, a historical event or when the Tallest request his presence on the _Massive_.”

“They barely leave that ship, especially not for interviews” Jam added. Aka had some trouble keeping up with their fast paced steps. Why was everyone always running in this place?

“Even if it’s right here in our system, they never go off board,” Jam chuckled. 

“Normally interviews also are recorded here at the station,” Dot continued, not appreciating Jams addition to his professional tour narration.

“We have Mistress Val over for the late night show today. We should check in with the responsible recording team after this. I know our Showmaster gave us the day off for the tour, but she is quite the important personality…” 

Aka sighed at the thought of having to see the Announcer again today. Jam sighed too, but because that meant getting back to work. They left the editing department and Dot continued talking about the responsibilities the station had to fulfill. They also provided recording rooms for external projects like advertisements, music and film productions. The radio was also recorded and broadcasted from the station, which made sense since the Announcer did broadcast over the radio too. 

“I’m sorry I pissed him off earlier today,” Aka suddenly said and got a confused look from the other two.

“I didn’t want to make you guys jobs any harder than they already are. You’re always so busy and stressed out, and I made it even worse by speaking up to him during the morning show...”

Dot and Jam looked at each other, then laughed.

“Oh my gosh, are you kidding? Today was one of the calmest recordings we‘ve **ever** had,” Dot chuckled.

“Yeah, I have never seen him this composed, even when he’s in a good mood. Nobody was yelled at, or kicked, or hit, no property was destroyed...If you are the reason for that, we’ve hit the jackpot,” Jam added and hugged Aka in her devilment. Aka flinched back at the unexpected touch, freeing herself from Jams arms just a bit too violently.

“I - I’m sorry,” Jam stuttered, shocked by Akas unexpected reaction.

“I didn’t know you had a problem with hugs,” she added.

“It’s fine,” Aka quickly said and started walking again, trying to act like nothing had happened. Dot and Jam followed her.

“You said something about a service drone named Tab,” Aka interjected to change the subject.

“Who are they?”

“Tab was our Showmasters previous personal assistant,” Jam started and Dot continued her sentence.

“She was with us for quite some time. 3 years, I believe?”

“He lay her off the day he checked into the hotel that you worked for. We don’t really know why he did it though...”

“Was she very small with green eyes?” Aka asked and both nodded.

“Did you see her?” Jam asked, sounding worried.

“Yes I did...she was still with him at the checkin. The evening of the same day she was gone, though.”

“It’s just like when Tab first came to us,” Dot mumbled and Jam frowned.

“We have discovered a weird pattern with our masters assistants. One day he just shows up with a new one he found who knows where. They work for him for some time and then they get replaced when he finds another small drone that is somewhat qualified for the job.”

“We’ll be honest, Aka. We are worried. We thought this was over with Tab, but then you showed up…”

Jam sounded really sad all of a sudden.

“It’s just been frustrating. Losing close friends like that without being able to say goodbye…”

“That’s just what life is like as a drone. The Showmaster is unpredictable,” Dot interfered with Jams whining.

Aka frowned at the two. So the way he had employed her was actually something he had pulled with other drones before her too? And it was her size that he was interested in? It suddenly made sense why he had offered her the job back in the cab, before even knowing her qualifications. 

She just didn‘t know what to make of this new information.

They passed by a smaller recording room than the one they used for the Irken News show. Dot stopped and checked a holo screen from his PAK.

“They‘re just done with the late night special,“ he said and pushed the button to open the door.

“I‘ll quickly check in with the team to see if they need anything,“ Dot continued and entered the room. 

Aka leaned over to see what was going on inside. Just like in the big recording room it was filled with mainly camera and sound equipment. The set was longer, with multiple seats and a couch as well as a small coffee table. In front of it stood a tall female Irken with purple eyes and bent antennae that almost reached onto the floor. She wore a tight purple dress with a glittery sweep train and held a coffee cup in her claws. Instead of black leather her gloves were made out of a half transparent, glittery material. The Announcer sat leaned back in one of the chairs with a tired expression on his face, eyeing the angry Irken lady.

“You incompetent fools!“ she yelled at a few makeup artist drones that were slowly backing away from her.

“You call **this** make up? I look like an overly shiny Vortian flabbean on the recording!“ she poured her coffee over one of the drones and threw the empty cup against the head of another. They took the hit like it was nothing, just nodding and backing away a bit further.

She got even more angry at the service drones composed reaction and kicked a third one, gaining an amused chuckle from the Announcer.

“We have to redo the interview, Anno.“

She turned towards the Announcer who cracked an askew smile at her query.

“Val, as much as I respect you and would like to allow that, we‘re on a schedule. You should know by now that we don‘t do second takes. Besides, you look lovely in my eyes.“

For a second it looked like he was going to correct that sentence to ‚eye‘, but then chose not to. Val sighed and turned back to the drones, spotting Dot, Jam and Aka who had just entered the room.

“You,“ she said and pointed at Aka.

“You‘re not working with the crew. Fetch me a new coffee.“

Aka blatantly ignored Mistress Vals command and looked at the service drone that had been poured over with coffee. It looked unhappy, but not in pain. The Announcer had spotted Aka too now and sat up in his chair, his expression changing from bored to uneasy.

“What the hell is going on here,“ she asked, shocked at how Val had just treated the other service drones. The Announcer seemed thrown off track.

“Why are you here?“ he asked and Mistress Val growled at Aka.

“Don’t you dare ignore me, drone!” she yelled.

Aka looked up at Mistress Val with a disgusted frown.

“I won’t bring you anything,” she hissed and expected her PAK to protest any second now. But it didn’t.

“I see this one has yet to learn how we do things around here,“ Val hissed back and took a step towards Aka.

“She won‘t listen to you,” the Announcer said, waving a claw at Aka.

“It’s not her fault. I had her PAK modified today, she only takes orders from me now.”

“Why would you do that? That’s against everything that our Control Brains programmed our society to be,” Val answered in a surprised tone. Aka instinctively grabbed the side of her head.

“What? What the hell did you do to me? How many other things are there that I should know of?”

“Not now, Aka,” the Announcer hissed, still looking at Val.

“You call her by her name…” Mistress Val mumbled to herself and eyed Aka resentfully.

“I think I can see what‘s going on here. The little one is special, isn’t she?” she grabbed Aka and lifted her up to her eye level. Aka stubbornly squinted back at her, digging her fingers into the actresses huge claws for support.

“Put her down,” the Announcer hissed angrily and jumped up from his chair.

“I got to admit she **is** very cute,” Val said, ignoring the Announcer and eyeing Aka.

“She certainly has qualities. Too bad she’s just a useless service drone.”

Val opened her fingers and let Aka drop. Jam and Dot both quickly stepped in closer and cushioned her fall before she could slam into the floor, avoiding the worst.

The Announcer grabbed Mistress Vals right claw and she furiously snarled at him.

“You’re no longer tolerated at my studio,” he hissed and dug his claws into her wrist. She snorted at the pain and moved her face really close to his.

“You know, under different circumstances I might have enjoyed this,” she whispered to him, then freed herself from his grip with a sudden yank of her arm.

“But this is just pathetic. I would have thought better of an Irken as...impressive, as you are.“

She stormed past Aka, who was being propped up by Dot and Jam, and out of the recording room. The Announcer sighed and kneeled down next to the drones.

“Are you okay?” he asked and reached out for Aka with his claw, but she shied away from his touch fearfully. Jam immediately looked up at the Announcer.

“Don’t touch her,” she growled and he leaned back, raising both claws.

“I won’t,” he said to Jam while Aka got up on her own and adjusted her uniform.

“I’m fine, master,” she said in a determined voice.

“I’d like to go to my quarters for today. Is that fine?” 

He nodded and got up too.

“You two help clean up the mess,” the Announcer said to Dot and Jam, shooting a quick look at the drones that Val had harassed.

“I will accompany Aka to her quarters.”

* * *

It was late and Aka was immensely tired. The level of stress and anxiety she had experienced because of her PAK procedure had been exhausting, leaving her a nervous wreck. The Announcer walked beside her silently for the most part of the way, but she knew that he had something on his mind.

“Why are you being so stubborn all of a sudden?” he finally asked.

“Your work attitude has changed for the worse since you moved into the station. First you talk up to me, and now Mistress Val...I am not angry at you Aka, I’m worried. Are you not dealing well with these changes in your life?”

“Maybe that’s just who I am, master. You wouldn’t know, since you bought me before even taking the time to meet me,” she snapped back and crossed her arms.

“Oof...okay,” he said and stopped. Aka took a few more steps and turned around, facing him with a determined look on her face.

“You can’t talk to me like that, Aka.”

They kept staring at each other. His facial expression turned gloomier.

“I’d kindly advise you to rethink your attitude towards this job, and _me_ ,” he growled, scaring away most of Akas newfound confidence.

“You had an extremely hard day today, so I’ll let it slide. But you are still my service drone, and you have rules to follow. Tomorrow I expect the level of professionalism from you that you proved at the hotel.”

“What else did you change in my PAK,” Aka asked. 

He sighed.

“I just told you back there. I had the obedience protocol removed. You said so yourself, you hate how every other Irken can give you commands.”

“But why would you do that? This only gets both of us into more trouble with taller Irkens, just like Val back there. It makes me...different.”

“Because I won’t allow strangers to boss you around anymore. I’m the only tall Irken that you need to listen to.”

She pouted at his words.

“You’ve been through so much today,” he continued in a softer tone.

“Just get some rest, okay? We’ll talk about this another time.”

“Of course, master…” Aka mumbled, unsatisfied. She walked the rest of the way to her quarters alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally drew Dot and Jam~  
> https://twitter.com/khaliarart/status/1343445701087404032?s=21


	12. Transmission

“So, when will that news special on Operation Impending Doom be finished? The people are getting nervous, they want to know more.”

The image of the Tallest Red and Purple flickered on a huge screen as the Announcer put down his claws on the control panel of the communications terminal. They had called him in the middle of their morning broadcast - for **this**.

The entire film crew stood behind him, careful not to make a sound. Aka tightly held on to a tiny clipboard.

“Maybe, if you left the task to a professional and hadn’t redistributed my journalist team without my knowledge last night, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” the Announcer hissed back at the screen.

“They were working most effectively here, on Conventia. And today I have to find out that they were sent to planet Irk by order of the Tallest to do _on-site investigative journalism_? This is not how we do things around here, this will send us back in schedule for days!”

“No need to be mean, Anno,” Red said in an upset tone.

“Yea, we just wanted to speed things up. Maybe your team just sucks,” Purple added and shoved another handful of chips into his mouth. 

The grinding sound of his teeth against the dry snacks echoed through the recording room and made the Announcer press his claws harder into the metal surface.

He clenched his jaw and forced himself to smile. 

“With all due respect, my Tallest, what my team is facing right now is far beyond what we usually do here at the station. They are not trained for on-site research. You may rest assured that I will fix this, but I need time,“ he said with no hint of anger troubling his voice.

“Just do not tamper with my team again, please...“ he quietly added.

Red made an unsatisfied grunt and the screen changed to static.

Anno tilt his head back down to look at the stations control panel. The tips of his pointed claws had left dents on the surface where he placed them.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!“ he yelled and slammed his fist down on the panel. A few buttons went flying and Aka jumped back at the sudden outburst. Dot took a step back, the rest of the camera crew followed him.

“These nutheads messed up our entire schedule! They have the resources of the entire Irken empire to fix this mess but instead they choose to waste the time of my team, sit around, eat snacks and blame **me** when something goes wrong!”

His eye had lit up in a more intense red, similar to when he had yelled at her in the hotel room a few days before. 

“If I ever cross paths with the atrocious Invader who caused all of this, I will personally snap his neck!“

He pushed himself away from the panel and started roaming the set. The feathered robe dragged behind him over the neatly welded flooring, forcing the film crew drones to jump out of his way to not be knocked down by it. 

“How **dare** they misuse my crew like that! Incompetent, stupid idiots! And as if the humiliation of my drones being scattered by these incapable fools wasn‘t enough, I‘m stuck here doing nothing...stuck on this...on this stupid planet watching them ruin this historical event that I’m desparately trying to fix...stuck with....“ his voice softened as he had a realization. His gaze locked on Aka who had taken a defensive pose, carefully peaking at him from behind the clipboard. She stood like a barrier between him and the film crew. Especially Dot had taken cover right behind Aka.

“My Showmaster,” Aka carefully spoke up with a nervous look around the room. The drones, including Dot and Jam, glanced back at her in concern. She took a deep breath and straightened up.

“I strongly recommend we get back to recording. We can’t do anything until the journalism team returns to Conventia in the afternoon, and the broadcast can’t wait any longer.“

The entire crew held their breath, glaring at the Announcer. Instead of the expected outburst he closed his eye for a few seconds, took a deep breath and folded his claws behind his back.

“You’re right, Aka. We need to get back to work.”

He walked past Aka towards the set. Dot formed a soundless “ _what the fuck_ ” with his mouth before following Aka and the Announcer back to the huge table.

* * *

After the recording of the morning show was done, Aka stood prepared with the coffee and scrolled through the planner on her holo screen. The Announcer took the cup from her and leaned down to peak at her screen.

“I got a meeting downtown in a few minutes,” he said and took a long sip from the coffee. Aka frowned at him.

“You, master, have a meeting with the minister of the Irken military at 10. They have information on the failure of Operation Impending Doom that we desperately need for the special. You can’t leave now.”

The Announcer smiled at Akas attempt at acting tough. 

“The minister can wait,” he said and walked past her and the crew towards the door.

“What will I tell them if you’re late?” Aka shouted after him but he didn’t seem to hear or care. She angrily grasped the clipboard tighter, crumbling the sheet of paper on it.

“If he doesn’t listen to me, then what even is the **point** of my job?” she hissed to herself. Dot took the clipboard from her before she could destroy the notes on it any further.

“To think that today was still one of the _better_ recordings,” Dot said and looked at Akas notes. She pulled herself together and snatched the notes back from him. On the paper were mainly doodles she had made of the camera team drones. 

“We’re all really thankful that you stood up to him earlier. These situations usually...escalate,” Dot smiled and pointed at the clipboard.

“These look amazing. But you better don’t let the boss see this,” he said and left towards the editing department. 

Aka sighed and checked the schedule again. Her master only had about an hour until he had to be at the military station on planet Irk. Despite the planet being in the same star system as Conventia, there was no way he’d make it to the meeting in time. 

She opened her new contacts list, searching for the minister. She’d just message them and say that her master would visit later than planned, after all he was an important personality. 

Suddenly her PAK popped up a new message, it was an incoming call. From the Tallest.

Aka squeaked and quickly covered her mouth with her claws, looking around the room in panic. Jam caught her glance and stopped doing maintenance on her camera to walk over to her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, then spotted the screen in front of Akas face that was showing a horribly ugly image of Tallest Red and Purple. On it they were somewhat blurry and stuffing their faces with spray cheese. Why did that image even exist?

“Yeah _maybe_ you should take that,” Jam said and went to click on **ACCEPT** when Aka slapped her claw away.

“I can’t take _that?_! They probably just called on accident, they will cancel any second now,” Aka rambled and kept staring at the screen. The ringing continued.

“I think they _really_ need to talk to you,” Jam said through an askew smile.

“I hate my life,” Aka stated, closed her eyes and pushed **ACCEPT.**

* * *

“Sup ‘lil one,” Tallest Red said. Purple stood next to him, wearing some kind of big, round hat.

“We couldn’t reach the big guy, but since it’s Taco Tuesday we can’t wait ‘til he calls back. You can deliver a message, right? It’s super top secret and urgent and stuff.”

Aka gulped and nodded, not saying anything. Red was in such a hurry, she didn’t even have the time to correctly address her Tallest at the beginning of the call.

“Okay cool cool. So, Purple and I had the best idea just now. We’ll just do Operation Impending Doom again, in a few months or so,” Red said and Purple pushed himself into the center of the screen.

“We call it Operation Impending Doom 2! Isn’t that genius?” 

“That way we don’t discourage our people with the failure that was Operation Impending Doom 1, we’ll just skip that part and occupy the news with the announcement of the new event,” Red stated and grinned.

“I...I think I may not be qualified to carry this type of information,” Aka stuttered and dug her claws into the clipboard. She was shaking.

“Of course you‘re not. You‘re just an assembly line product, one drone out of 100 shmillions. That’s why we need you to deliver the news to your master. You know, the big one with the one creepy eye? Are you stupid or something?” 

Aka held back a frown and quickly nodded again.

“Just tell Anno to prepare the team for the announcement. Also, go tell him that we want him on the _Massive_ to talk about this. **Right now**.”

“Of course, my Tallest,” Aka said and bowed down. The call ended immediately.

“Woa,” Jam coughed and Aka dropped her clipboard, grasping Jams shoulders with both of her claws.

“ **What am I going to do**??” she yelled and quickly let go of Jam again, using her claws to clasp her face instead.

“I have no clue where our Showmaster went! I’m doomed!”

“I don’t think he could have gone far, he left like 5 minutes ago,” Jam said and shrugged her shoulders.

“If you run you might even catch him before he leaves the building. Just watch out that you don’t-”

Aka had sprinted out of the room before Jam could finish her sentence.

* * *

She passed through a few hallways and then took the elevator down to the stations huge lobby, but she couldn’t spot the Announcer anywhere. She left the building through the main entrance doors, scanning the street for any cabs that might be about to leave. But the street was empty except for a few pedestrians that looked at her weird. The street was misty and grey from a recent rain shower, making it hard to see far. 

Aka almost panicked for a second, but pulled herself together and opened her communicator.

“Jam,” she said, out of breath from the sprint. Jam looked at her concerned from the small holo screen window.

“I think I just missed him. He said he’s going downtown, do you know-“

“Wait are you... _outside_ the station?” Jam cut Aka off.

“Yea, I thought I might still be able to catch him on the street,“ Aka answered confused.

“Aka, none of us drones can leave the building without a specific permit from the Showmaster or the Tallest! That’s what I was trying to tell you before, the door won’t let our PAKs pass through.”

Aka frowned and looked back to check her PAK. It had taken no damage whatsoever.

“Maybe they forgot to add that feature for me,” she mumbled and turned back towards the screen.

“I really need your help, Jam. Do you know any places closeby that he frequently visits?”

Jam bit her lip and sighed.

“There’s that one club. It’s called _The_ _Pole Planet_. If the rumors here at the station are true, he uses the place for the type of business he can’t do at the station. You know, the unofficial stuff.”

Aka nodded and pulled up a map of the town. The club was only a short walk from the station, closer to the center of Conventias capital. Looking at the map, Aka realized she had never left the Media District of Conventia before.

“Thank you Jam, you’re really saving my life right now,” she said and got ready to end the call.

“Just...please take care of yourself, okay? It’s dangerous for an uniformed government drone to go downtown on their own. The Irkens in the city don’t always think fondly of us,” Jam sighed and Aka nodded, ending the call.

* * *

Aka roamed the streets of Conventia with unanticipated precision. Even though she had been assigned to this planet when she was just a smeet, she had never left her workplace. Everything she had ever known was the academy that trained her to be a hotel drone and the _Conventia Inn._ Well, and now the Main Convention Hall and the television broadcast station.

Conventia was a city planet that lay in the same system as the Irkens home planet Irk. Both planets shared a similar structure: dense cities and few to no vegetation. 

All of Irken media was produced and broadcasted from Conventia, making the planet the home of actors, musicians and every other worker in the entertainment industry of the Irken empire.

The place was basically one big center for Irkens to consume knowledge, attend events and visit fairs. 

She made her way through broad streets that were moderately filled with other pedestrians, mainly Irkens. The road was covered in puddles of water from the rain.

Various types of shuttles and small spaceships cruised through the alleys, making their way through the crowd or ascending to higher levels to pass over the heads of the pedestrians. The walls of the tall buildings around them were packed with colorful holo screens that played advertisements or pointed into the direction of specific establishments.

On an especially large billboard, Aka spotted the news broadcast that they had just recorded a few minutes ago. Her master looked down at her and the city condescendingly through his single glowing red eye, reading the newest information that the journalist team could gather on the disaster on their home planet. The mood on the street seemed grim, many Irkens that she overheard were talking about the incident.

“...heard they couldn’t deactivate the Invader because he was too evil for the Control Brains-”

“...what will the planets under the control of the Irken empire think of this? What if they see a chance to rise up against our military?”

“...scared for Irks future. What if our capital won’t recover from this?”

Aka felt the uncertainty of the people on the street and remembered what her master had said back at the commentator booth. That their leaders were foolish to launch a mission as huge as Operation Impending Doom, and that they would weaken the empire. She was starting to think that he had been right all along.

She arrived at the block on which the club was supposed to be and was just about to check the map again when a bright pink neon sign caught her eye. It was a minimalistic illustration of a female irken on a stripper pole, crossed with a fancy looking cocktail. It hung over a nondescript door that led downstairs to a basement level. In front of it stood a beefy looking Irken in a fancy suit. He was rather tall, too.

Aka had neither the time nor the energy to be upset about how inconvenient the situation had just gotten, and walked up to the bouncer.

He looked down at her and chuckled.

“No smeets allowed,” he growled.

Of all the ways Aka had expected this conversation to go, this was none she had seen coming.

“I’m an adult,” she answered and crossed her arms, slightly upset now.

“Show me your identification number,” the bouncer answered and Aka quickly pulled up the file that every Irken had saved in their PAK. It included an Irkens official name, identification number, assigned occupation and in the case of service drones, the identification number of her owner.

“Oh, so you’re the Showmasters drone then,” the bouncer said and stepped aside.

Aka did not question how the bouncer recognized the Announcer just by his identification number and quickly squeezed past him inside the building.


	13. The Pole Planet

The inside of the club was darker than the streets, so it took Akas eyes a moment to adjust. She heard loud music coming from the end of the narrow hallway that was in front of her. The walls were painted red and illuminated by neon tubes that hung on the ceiling. 

She followed the short hallway into a big, open room that lay behind a heavy curtain which she had troubles pushing aside. The room was dimly lit except for a stage on which two Irken ladies performed to the music. They were wearing ornate outfits and high heels, each danced around a spinning pole. Throughout the rest of the room sat a few more Irkens on round tables, there also was a bar in the back of the room. The bartender had looked up from his current customer and eyed Aka suspiciously. She could not spot her master anywhere in the room.

“Awww look at you, cutie! Welcome to _The Pole Planet_ ,” said a friendly sounding voice and Aka spinned around. One of the dancers had come over and looked down at her from the stage. She had yellow eyes and wore a glittery, golden body with long sleeves. She was really pretty.

“Are you lost?” the dancer asked and sat down to be more at eye level with Aka.

Aka blushed and quickly turned her face away.

“I’m looking for my master,” she mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

“Maybe I can help. What does he look like?” the dancer asked, smiling now.

“It’s….the Showmaster,” Aka almost whispered, feeling uncomfortable saying the name out loud. Suddenly she was hoping that she would not find him in here.

“Oh yea, he is in the back. But I don‘t think you should see him right now, he has a meeting or something going on,” the dancer answered. Aka considered just turning around and leaving, but then she would have to explain her failure to the Tallest. She didn’t know what was worse.

The dancer picked up on Akas inner dilemma and sighed.

“I’ll bring you to him. But he’s not going to like this,” she said and climbed down from the stage to lead Aka through the club.

* * *

“...and then she said that upgrading her PAK wasn‘t my _choice to make_! I‘m her master, I can do whatever I want now, don’t I?” The Announcer sat on a red velvet lounge, his feet were propped up on a glass coffee table and he was holding a glass that was halfway filled with some type of pink cocktail. Next to him sat a delicate Irken lady in a short, blue dress.

“Technically yes, but you want her to _like_ you, correct?“ the Irken lady said in a soft voice.

The Announcer growled in approval and chugged the rest of his drink, then grabbed a fancy looking bottle from the table and refilled his glass. On the table lay 2 more empty bottles of the same drink.

“You can‘t force her,” she continued and lay a claw on the Announcers thigh.

“The best you can try is to be considerate of her feelings and give her the time and space that she needs. I’m sure she’ll come around when she is ready.”

“Why must she be so stubborn...this never happened to me before. I‘m tall!“ he grunted and took a long sip from the glass again.

“May I remind you that you still have a meeting to attend, my Showmaster?” the female Irken mentioned and the Announcer looked down at the glass in his claws. It was empty again. He sighed and put it back on the table when the door to their private room opened. In it stood another Irken lady in a blue dress.

“My Showmaster,“ she said and bowed.

“I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but your appointment has arrived. He is waiting at the back exit.” 

The Announcer got up and turned back to the Irken on the lounge.

“You’re excused,” he said and fixed the sleeves of his cloak. She nodded and left the room in a hurry.  
  


* * *

In the narrow alley behind the club stood a tired looking Irken in an Invader uniform. He jumped when the back door was suddenly slammed open and the Announcer stepped out into the rainy street. The two eyed each other for a moment before the Invader found the courage to speak up.

“I’ve-“

“Shut up,” the Announcer cut him off and folded his claws behind his back.

“Did you come to fight, or to blackmail me?”

The Invader was seemingly taken by surprise by the Announcers bold entrance.

“You killed my friend. That was not part of our deal,” he said in a shaky voice.

“Invader Exe brought this onto himself. I _specifically_ stated that the drone is not to be harmed under any circumstances,” the Announcer answered in a sharp tone.

“I‘d advise you to take the payment and get over it,” he continued and threw a bag of monies into the street, right before the boots of the Invader. He was about to lean down and pick it up when his gaze wandered towards the door, next to the Announcer.

“Who is Invader Exe?” a quiet voice asked and the Announcer startled at the familiar voice. He turned towards Aka who was struggling to hold open the heavy back door next to him all by herself.

“Do you...know each other?” she asked and stared at the Invader who had first molested her in the street in front of the TV station and later at the Main Convention Hall. He seemed to have managed getting a new PAK after her master had destroyed his old one.

“Why are you here??” the Announcer gasped and held the door open for Aka so she didn’t have to continue struggling. 

“What is going on here, master?” she muttered and looked up at the Announcer in disbelief. He couldn’t bring himself to answer. 

Aka quickly turned around and rushed back into the club, he followed her immediately.

“Aka, wait!” he yelled after her as she pulled open the door that led back into the stage area. The Announcer blocked her path by putting his foot in the way of the door and she angrily whirled around to face him. 

“Let me go!” she yelled and kicked his foot. He didn’t budge.

“This isn’t what it looks like, Aka. They were never supposed to hurt-“

“So you **did** hire them!” Aka quickly backed away from the door and her master.

“That‘s crazy! Why would you do something like that?” she continued and accidentally bumped into the lounge while walking backwards. The Announcer closed the door and put his claws together in frustration. 

“I’m sorry, Aka. I just wanted to make the decision of quitting the hotel job easier for you, but my plan backfired. I never wanted you to get hurt.”

He crossed the room towards her and she backed away further, climbing on top of the lounge.

“Stay away!” she hissed at him while trying to steady her stance on the back of the lounge.

“Why does nothing ever go according to plan with you…” the Announcer sighed and continued walking towards her. Aka emerged the metal legs from her PAK and made them point at her masters face. He finally stopped. 

“You said you wouldn’t lie to me anymore!” she yelled. 

“Is this all just a joke to you? Am **I** a joke to you?“

The Announcer carefully grabbed one of the legs that was pointing directly at his eye and pushed it to the side.

“I would _never_ belittle you like that, Aka,” he said with a frown and sat down on the lounge, not letting go of the metal leg.

“Let’s calm down and talk about this. You‘re starting to make me regret giving you these…“

Aka felt her anger rising and her PAK legs curled up in anticipation. 

He seemed to notice that she was about to do something dumb and grabbed the leg in his claw tighter, then he jerkily pulled it towards himself. Aka tripped forwards and bumped into him, directly onto his lips. Their kiss only lasted for a heartbeat, then Aka pushed herself away from him and fell down on the cushions, retracting the PAK legs. She scurried away from him until she hit the other side of the lounge and wiped her mouth with the back of her gloved claw. The Announcer stared at her with a disgustingly broad grin on his face.

“This isn‘t normal,” Aka coughed and held back the urge to start scratching her now itching arms and neck.

“You‘re not normal.“

His grin shifted into an upset frown as he instinctively stroked his claw over the side of his helmet. Aka seemed to have hit a weak spot by calling him odd.

“You’re smart, Aka. Smarter than the _others_ ,” he said after a moment of silence and leaned back, letting himself fall into the cushions with a deep sigh.

“Have I not been nothing but good to you?,” he continued and turned his gaze towards the tiny drone again.

“I saved you from that hotel, I gave you your own quarters and provided you with a PAK that allows you to fight for yourself. What else is it that you could possibly want from me?“

“I- I don‘t think I understand,” Aka whispered. Her body was shaking again and she felt sick. 

“Why the effort? What is it that you‘re waiting for in return?“ she huffed, still pressing herself into the far end of the lounge.

“I want **you** , Aka. I like you, and it has been tormenting me that you are not returning my affection,” he said, almost looking ashamed of himself. Aka didn’t even try to hide the displeasure which she experienced from his words. 

“Affection?!” she hissed and couldn’t longer stop herself from scratching her itching neck. 

“You may talk to me like a friend, but you treat me like any other drone! You do not bother to ask for my consent on anything, and you are just as mean and unpredictable as any other tall Irken back at the hotel. Maybe even worse!“ she yelled and jumped up from the cushions. The Announcer also left his relaxed position and sat up straight.

“I own you, and I can do whatever I want to with you!” he growled and his eye lit up in that menacing shade of red again. 

“Maybe. But I will _never_ be fond of someone like you,” she hissed back at him, clenching her teeth and scratching the itching patches of her skin. They fiercely stared at each other for a long moment, the Announcer seemed to barely repress himself from breaking something.

Then the threatening glow of his eye suddenly went out when he looked down at Akas neck.

“You’re scratching up your wounds,” he mumbled with a worried face and reached out for her, grabbing her claw to keep her from touching her neck.

“Have you been doing that a lot lately? They look worse than when they were fresh.”

She quickly pulled her claw out of his grasp and crossed her arms, pouting. 

“I know you will come around eventually, in one way or another“ the Announcer finally growled in defeat and got up from the lounge.

“We still have a long trip before us, let’s just go.”

Aka frowned at him in confusion.

“Where are we going?”, she asked and didn’t move from her spot.

“To Irk,” the Announcer said and opened the door for her.

“The trip there is the worst. I’d appreciate to have some company for once.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I so had to draw the moment after the ‘kiss‘ :)  
> https://twitter.com/khaliarart/status/1349405138641936384?s=21


	14. Shuttle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys!  
> A few things happened so I thought I‘ll let you know real quick.  
> I changed my username so it wouldn‘t match my artist name anymore.  
> Sorry for any confusion this might cause,,,  
> And what might be relevant for any fellow artists who are reading this, I submitted Aka and Anno as characters for Art Fight 2021! You can find them on my profile:
> 
> https://artfight.net/~Khaliar
> 
> That would be all, have fun reading!

Aka was blinded by the light when she followed her master out of the club and stepped into the street. The sun had started to set and the light of the neon signs had grown more intense, reflecting off the puddles on the ground and illuminating the entire street. The Announcer stopped on the side of the road and checked a slim, yellow holo screen that was connected to a phone booth. He suddenly frowned and looked down at Aka who was trying her best not to be hit by the water which passing Irkens whirled up.

“How did you even find me?” he asked.

Aka was thinking that she couldn’t snitch on Jam like that when she remembered why she even came. She badly faked a grin as she carefully peaked up to the unhappy looking Irken.

“Master...I have news.”

* * *

“Man I love tacos!” Purple yelled as he shoved the 47th taco of the day into his mouth. The Tallest sat on their couch in the center of the _Massives_ control bridge, Red was wearing a big round hat too now. Around them were a dozen service drones that were running around gathering more tacos, or just busy being tables. Red even had his feet propped up on top of one of the table drones.

“You know, we should do taco tuesday more often!” Purple continued and chugged an entire 1 liter soda cup. Most of the sticky, pink liquid drooled down onto one of the drones.

“But there is only one tuesday in a week,” Red whined.

“We should just add another tuesday to the week then! That way there can be two taco tuesdays!” Purple added and threw his arms up in excitement.

“That’s genius,” Red whispered and stared at Purple in disbelief. Purple shot him an excited grin. They both slowly leaned in until their faces were almost touching when the giant screen before them suddenly popped up an incoming message. Purple screamed in shock and hugged Red with both arms.

“My Tallest,” the yellow eyed Irken from the communications crew spoke up and they both turned towards him. They looked highly displeased.

“You have an incoming call. From Irks Showmaster.”

“Ugh, him **again**?!” Red coughed and kicked the table drone to his feet out of frustration. It fell over with a silent squeak.

“He’s so serious all the time,” Red whined.

“Yeah! He’s always killing my vibe,” Purple added and looked back at Red.

“I hate that guy. Can’t we just ignore him?”

Red seemed to seriously use his brain to think about the situation for a moment.

“If I may speak up, my Tallest,” the Irken from communications said and they both angrily glared back at him.

“You **did** call his drone to deliver some delicate information. It was only to be expected that he’d call you back upon receiving this message.”

“Why is everyone using big words lately?” Purple asked, looking tired. Red shrugged and waved at the communications Irken, signaling him to accept the call.

The Announcer appeared on the giant screen. He was turned away and talking to someone who was off screen.

“That took long,” Red said in a sassy tone as if he had awaited the call and hadn’t completely forgotten about it. The Announcer stopped talking to whoever stood beside him and turned towards the Tallest with a frown.

“See? Totally killing the vibe,” Purple whispered to Red. Everyone could very well hear him.

“My Tallest,” the Announcer sighed and put on a well acted smile.

“I have just received your message, and I think there must have been a misunderstanding. My drone believes you told her that you want to _repeat_ Operation Impending Doom?”

“The stupid thing got that right,” Red yawned and waved his claw at the Announcer.

“Just come over and sort this situation out, will ya?”

The Announcer started at his leaders in disbelief.

“My Tallest, _figuring this out_ is not part of my job. I just proclaim your decisions to the people. We would first need to inform the military about this and-” he was cut off by an incredibly dramatic sigh from Red and Purple at the same time.

“We’ll call the minister too, okay? Come to the _Massive_ so we can get this over with,” Red wailed and ended the call. The Announcer stared at the static screen in disbelief.

“Told you,” Aka muttered from behind her master.

They stood inside a public shuttle hangar on the gigantic docking ring that was built above the atmosphere of planet of Conventia. Getting there had been an experience in itself for Aka. 

Most Irkens had recognized her master on their way through the streets before they had taken a teleportation line up to the docking ring. The people had hastily stepped aside to make space for him, which was quite the opposite of how Aka experienced going anywhere. Some Irkens had tried talking to him, addressing him about the disaster on Irk and asking his opinion on the Irken military. 

He had smiled at the people on the street as if they were friends, greeting and waving back at all of them with a big grin on his face. Aka had quickly started feeling sick from the view. It felt incredibly wrong and creepy to her when he was acting out that exuberant persona for the public. 

There was no doubt the people loved it, they didn’t know it any better. She too had thought that the television star was an optimistic and outgoing personality...before she had met him.

The Announcer flicked away the holo screen and let out an angry snarl. Aka didn‘t even notice, she had spotted a window from which she could see the surface of her home planet Conventia. She jogged across the huge hallway and pushed her claws against the massive glass window. The planet was one big streaked pattern of different bright shades of purple. It looked way more vibrant than how Aka had imagined it.

The Announcer noticed that Aka was not by his side anymore and apprehensively scanned the huge open area for her. He let out a sigh of relief when he spotted her by the window and walked over to her.

“I have never been up here,” Aka mumbled, still staring down at the huge planet before them.

“You’ve never left Conventia?” the Announcer asked with a surprised face.

“Actually...I have never even left the Media District until today,” Aka answered quietly. For some reason she felt embarrassed to tell him this. A moment of silence passed.

“Is there...any place that you’d like to visit?” the Announcer hesitantly asked and Aka eyes widened.

“Can we go to the zoo?” she asked hastily and whirled around to her master. He smiled at her enthusiasm.

“The one on Conventia? I was thinking you might want to go somewhere...further away.”

Aka processed his words for a short moment.

“Could we visit Irk?” she then asked, sounding even more excited.

A purple eyed Irken in a pilot uniform suddenly walked up to them.

“My Showmaster, the shuttle is ready,“ he said and bowed down.

“We’ll get back to this another time…” the Announcer said to Aka with a soft smile and turned towards the pilot.

“I’ll need to see your identification documents, please,” the pilot said and straightened up. The Announcer frowned.

“You know who I am,” he hissed and the pilots antennae drooped. He looked scared now.

“The _Massive_ has strict security protocols,” he muttered, sounding way less confident than before.

“Anyone could use a holographic projection as a disguise. I have to check everyone who goes on board.”

The Announcer sighed and pulled up the requested identification document from his PAK. Aka couldn’t help it, she had to glance over at his screen. His identification number matched the one she had listed as her owners ID number in her document. The space that contained his official name read _Anno_ , and next to the normal information that Aka knew from her own PAK she could spot various other things on his screen. One application specifically caught her attention. It was a little PAK icon that was just named _AKA._

Her master glanced down at her and she quickly pulled up her own screen, acting like she hadn’t seen his. She was sure he had noticed anyways. 

“Okay, let’s go,” the pilot said and noted something down on a holo planner, then turned around and signaled them to follow him into the hangar.

* * *

They followed the pilot towards a white and blue space shuttle that was parked in the middle of the hangar. It had two rows of seats in the back that could transport a total of 8 passengers. The cockpit was separated from the passenger area by a wall that had a tiny window in it.

The Announcer routinely sat down on the seat that was closest to the cockpit and put on the safety belt. Aka didn’t take the seat that was right next to him but climbed up on the seat after that, further away from him.

He looked at her with a defeated expression, but accepted her decision wordlessly.

Aka looked around the minimalist cabin while putting on her seatbelt. She was a bit scared of the vehicle, but what was concerning her even more in this moment was the weird icon she had seen on her masters PAK. The Announcer had noticed her sudden mood change too, he kept glancing over to her.

“It‘s a tracking device,“ he suddenly said and Aka leaned forward in her seat to be able to look at him.

“I figured it was that icon you saw on my PAK that‘s concerning you. It’s a common feature, every service drone has one.“

Aka said nothing. 

“This device is the only reason I was able to find you back at the Convention Hall,” he continued and cast a subtle smile into her direction.

“I know a lot of upsetting things happened lately, but this really isn‘t one of them. Can you just trust me on this?“

Aka knew he was lying. Not about the tracking device, that was indeed a standard to have. But the icon she saw had been a folder structure, meaning it had more than a single function.

The engines of the shuttle suddenly started up and Aka dug her claws into the seat. She hadn‘t noticed how anxious she had been until now.

“Dear passengers, we will now leave the Conventia docking ring. We will arrive at the _Massive_ in approximately 15 minutes. Please stay in your seats at all times and keep your seatbelt on,“ the pilot mumbled over the intercom and the shuttle started moving.

“Aren‘t we waiting for more passengers?“ Aka asked while rigorously digging her gloved claws into the seat cushions.

“I always buy all the tickets for the shuttle,“ the Announcer answered with a shrug.

“I can‘t be stuck on a ship with a group of strangers who want me to autograph their stuff or take photos with them. That would be my personal hell.“

“If you hate the job so much then why are you still doing it?“ Aka asked. She figured the subject could be risky to touch, given how easy it was to make him snap. But she was too busy trying not to panic from the ominous humming noises the shuttle made. 

“I don‘t hate it,“ the Announcer countered in an upset tone.

“I just don‘t care about it. It’s a job. And dealing with these fans was not part of the job description. It’s...hard.“

He looked over to her but she avoided looking back.

“Also you should know best that you can‘t just change your assigned position in this system,“ he added with a frown.

“Maybe I can‘t,“ Aka said. The shuttle had no windows in the back that she could have looked out of, so instead she stared down on her boots.

“But you could. You‘re tall and have the monies, why don’t you just quit and move somewhere else? All the rich Irkens that came to our hotel always bragged about their fancy mansions on the other side of Conventia. You know, where the celebrities live when they‘re not working.”

The Announcer stared at her with a blank expression, like he had actually never thought of this option before.

“Would you move there with me?” he asked with an expectant look on his face and Aka finally looked back at him. The distance created by the empty seat between them made the conversation just a bit more awkward than it already was.

“You won’t need an assistant if you don’t work in the media anymore,” she mumbled with a brooding look on her face.

“And I’ve never been assigned to do room cleaning...I can’t reach up to the beds,” she added, still intensely contemplating. The Announcer smiled at her attempts to make sense out of his question.

“I don’t think I could be of much use in a personal environment,” she finally concluded and folded her claws. The ship did not make any ominous sounds or movements anymore, so they must have left the hangar and entered space.

“Do you ever not think about work?” the Announcer asked after a short moment of silence.

“It is what I’m programmed to do. Service drones live to work,” Aka confidently answered like she had had this conversation many times before.

“I don’t know much, but I think it is what our entire species is meant to do. They don’t teach any information on the empire to us drones, but I picked up that Irkens are a very determined and powerful race.”

“If they didn’t provide your PAK with this information as a smeet, then where did you learn that?” the Announcer asked, genuinely interested in the subject. This was the first time since their late night conversation at the hotel room that he got Aka to talk about herself.

“ _You’re_ the one who taught me,” Aka answered. He stared at her speechlessly.

“The news, the radio, the game and talk shows… Drones can’t get access to libraries or other educational material, so at the hotel we would learn everything from watching TV,” she continued while kneading her claws.

“Drones _really_ like you...even though it is just through the TV, you’re the only tall Irken who talks to us like an equal.”

The Announcer was visibly surprised by what she just had told him. He also wasn’t smiling anymore.

“But now you don’t like me anymore, do you?” he quietly asked.

Instead of answering his question Aka turned away so he couldn’t see her face. He silently accepted her reaction and turned away too. They sat in silence for the rest of the trip.


	15. The Massive

Aka had to run in order to keep up with her master striding down the long control bridge of the _Massive._ He stopped abruptly at the end of it and she ended her sprint with a slittering halt, only barely avoiding bumping into the feathered train of his cloak.

“My Tallest, we have arrived,” the Announcer said towards the huge couch that stood before them. On it sat the Tallest Red and Purple, their gaze fixated on the screen before them. It was playing some sort of spaceship racing game. Next to the couch stood a neat looking Irken lady in a military uniform. She had orange eyes and wore a helmet with a transparent visor that was hiding her antennae. She nodded at the two approvingly while Aka took a closer look at the bridge. Around them sat several dozens of steering and communication Irkens that wore fancy looking headgear, high collars and were operating the consoles and screens before them. Aka locked eyes with one of them who sat in the front row. She had red eyes and curled eyelashes, most of her face was covered by the uniforms collar. She quickly turned towards her console again when she realized that Aka had caught her staring.

“This meeting is top secret. No service drones allowed,” Red mumbled, chewing on some unidentified consumables.

“She writes the protocol,” the Announcer sighed, already sounding tired.

The Tallest whispered something to each other and then turned back at him.

“Nope,” Red said. The Announcer let out a quiet growl and looked down at Aka. 

“Wait outside,” he said. She nodded and quickly walked back the way they came.

* * *

Aka stood leaned against a metal wall near to the control bridge. She had tried to find a more convenient spot to wait, like a bench of some sort, but it turned out that there was no furniture on this ship. Just long, empty hallways and an occasional locked door.

She had only stood there for a moment when she heard someone approach her. Aka jumped up and got ready to explain herself as to why she was lingering around the hallway like that when she noticed that it was the steering Irken who had started at her before. She was taller than Aka, just above the maximum size limit of a service drone. 

Instead of saying anything she grabbed Akas wrist and started pulling her away from the entrance to the control bridge.

“C- Can I help you?” Aka asked while following the steering Irken down the hallway.

The steering Irken hushed her and pulled her into a more narrow hallway.

“He’ll hear us,” she whispered and pushed Aka into something that must have been a janitor's closet, closing the door behind them. It went dark for a second before the steering Irken switched the light on. The room was indeed a small closet, but it was filled with a stash of snacks rather than janitors equipment. Though Aka spotted some cleaning supplies between the snacks too.

“I’m so sorry for my entrance,” the steering Irken quickly said and pulled down the collar of her uniform so Aka could see her face. She had dark circles under her red eyes and looked exhausted.

“But I had to make sure he wouldn’t hear us...” she added.

“Who? The Showmaster?“ Akas asked in a stressed voice. She was genuinely concerned by what was just happening. The steering Irken grabbed Aka by the shoulders.

“Where is Tab?” she asked, sounding worried. Aka was too surprised by the question to answer immediately.

“She’s been missing since his last visit. Please, you got to tell me where she is!”

“I- I don’t know. I’ve never really met her,“ Aka stuttered and took a step back, escaping the grasp the other Irken had on her.

“The drones at the station said that the Showmaster lay her off before he hired me. And he’s been lying about what happened to her to the Tallest. That’s everything I know.”

The steering Irken processed her words for a moment and put her claws together. She looked disturbed.

“Were you two...close?” Aka asked hesitantly. The steering Irken flinched at Akas statement, only now realizing that she had just admitted to a crime.

“You can’t tell anyone! Please!” she begged and grabbed Akas claws. Aka did not approve of all this touching, but felt it would be inappropriate to pull away now.

“We were...partners. Unofficially, of course. Us workers on the _Massive_ aren’t allowed to have relationships, just like you service drones,” she explained and sat down on the closet floor. Aka kneeled down next to her.

“I don’t have the software installed in my PAK to contact other Irkens. They want to prevent important military data from leaking that way. I only ever got to see her when _he_ was visiting,” she continued in a disgusted tone.

“What if he fired her because of me? She could be in trouble!” the steering Irken started sobbing and covered her face with her claws.

“It’s all my fault,” she sobbed. Aka didn’t know what to answer, she had never seen another Irken cry before.

“Tab was scared of him. She told me that he was no one to mess with, and that if he found out about us, she’d be done for.”

She slowly got her sobbing under control and grabbed Akas claws tighter.

“He must know where she is right now,” she said and wiped the tears off her face.

“You‘re my only hope of finding her. Please, you **have** to talk to him. If he tells anything to anyone, it will be you!“

Aka felt nauseous from the thought of having to confront her master on this topic. But this was serious, and unlike Tab and her girlfriend she didn’t have anything to lose. She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping that she would not regret this.

“I’ll talk to him,” she said and almost fell over when the taller Irken suddenly hugged her. Aka didn’t return the hug but rather sat it out with a frown on her face.

“Thank you,” the steering Irken sobbed into Akas turtleneck before letting go of her again.

“Can I somehow contact you once I get the information?” Aka asked.

“Sadly there is no way to contact me or any of my coworkers here on the _Massive_... We‘ll have to wait until the Showmaster gets called up here again.”

Aka sighed. This was more than inconvenient.

“If you find her, can you please give her a message from me?” the steering Irken asked. Aka nodded.

“Please tell her that I love her. And that she must stay wherever she is right now, because I’ll come and get her,” she said, trying hard not to start crying again. Aka got up from the ground and reached out for the steering Irken with her claw. She took it and Aka pulled her up on her feet too.

“Name’s Lex, by the way,” the steering Irken tried to add in a joking tone while still wiping the tears from her face.

“I’m Aka,” Aka said and smiled.

“Don’t worry. We will find Tab.”

* * *

After Lex had returned to the control bridge, Aka roamed the hallway restlessly for another hour before she heard steps again. 

“56. That‘s how many tacos Tallest Purple ate during the meeting. 56! Right before my eyes!!“, the Showmaster said in a troubled voice while approaching her.

“No Irken needs that amount of nutrition. We barely need any at all! That shit will last for _months_!“ 

Aka looked up to him with a worried expression. She didn’t exactly succeed at hiding her concerns about Tab and Lex.

“Oh uh- are you okay?“ he asked.

“You’re looking more tormented than me. And I just went through the worst war plan meeting in the history of the Irken empire.”

Aka snapped out of her gloom and reminded herself that she had to play along if she ever wanted to get an answer on what happened to Tab. She put on a smile.

“I’m sorry, master. I am just tired. How’d the meeting go?” she asked.

“Even worse than anticipated,” he answered, not further questioning her behaviour. 

“We need to record some things. At least one interview with the minister of the Irken military and another one with the Tallest. And I’ll have to do a general announcement for the news based on the information we gather from these interviews.”

He pulled up the protocol he had written.

“Will we go back to the station now?” Aka asked, looking at him through the screen.

“I fear not,” he said while scrolling through the protocol, then closing it and pulling up his contacts list.

“The Tallest refuse to leave the _Massive_ , so the team will have to come here instead,” he said and started calling Dot. 

“But it’s late,” Aka interjected and gained an annoyed glance from him.

“I know, Aka. They won’t get the equipment ready and on a shuttle until tomorrow morning, and it would be a waste of time and resources if we went back now. That’s why we are going to stay overnight and do the recordings when the rest of the team arrives in the morning,” he explained. Dot finally picked up the call and bowed down.

“My Showmaster,” he said and straightened up.

“What can I help you with?”

“I need the recording team up on the _Massive_ by tomorrow morning,” the Announcer said. Dots eyes widened.

“Including the equipment?” he asked, sounding stressed now.

“Of course **with** the equipment,” the Announcer hissed.

“Tell our field reporter to moderate the morning news in my place tomorrow. Leave him enough drones to get the job done.“

“I‘ll call him,“ Dot quickly answered. The Announcer nodded and raised his claw to hit **END CALL**.

“Wait!“ Dot quickly intervened and the Announcer paused.

“My Showmaster, if I may ask...is Aka with you?” His voice was shaking.

“We haven’t heard of her since she left the station to go look for you, and we are all _very_ worried…”

The Announcer stared at Dot confused for a moment, processing his words.

“She’s with me,” he then said and ended the call. Aka stared at the static on the Announcers screen in disbelief. She hadn‘t considered that Dot and Jam could have been worried for her this entire time. 

The Announcer swiped away the screen and shot a suggestive glance at Aka who quickly looked down at the floor. She knew from their first news show recording that he did not think fondly of her relationship to the rest of the team.

“Where will we sleep?“ Aka asked in hopes of ending the awkward moment. The Announcer started walking and she followed him down the hallway.

“They used to have this one room nearby...” he mumbled while scrolling through a map of the place.

“All I have to do is find it again.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for someone in charge to tell us where to go?” Aka intervened and he grunted.

“The Tallest know we’ll be staying, and they chose not to send a drone to assist us. That’s their way of saying they don’t care where we spend the night,” he said and stopped before a huge, round door.

“This is _TV Room 3_. I learned that this is the best place to stay on this dump of a ship,” he said and stepped into the room. It was quite large with a giant TV screen on the left side of the room and a red couch before it that looked exactly like the one on the control bridge. The first thing Aka noticed was that the floor was covered in both closed and opened bags of snacks. She carefully climbed over the bags and followed her master through the room to the couch. 

“You might have picked up that I hate it here,” he noted and flicked a half eaten chocolate bar off the armrest of the couch.

“This is exactly why. It’s hard to believe, but this is still the cleanest room.”

He let himself fall onto the couch and buried his face in his claws with an annoyed sigh. Aka was hesitant to sit next to him so she kept standing next to the couch, like any normal service drone would do it.

“Don’t they have drones to clean the place?” she asked with a disgusted look at a puddle of an unidentified, dried liquid on the floor.

“They do,” he mumbled through his fingers.

“They just can’t keep up with the trail of destruction that our dear leaders tend to leave behind.”

“The Tallest seem a lot different in person than how they appear on TV…” Aka noted, still scanning the room for possible health hazards.

“And who is to credit for that? **Me**!” he hissed and crossed his legs.

“You have no idea how _hard_ it is to work with these two! Half of my job is just manipulating them into looking like decent leaders on television.”

“Manipulate?” Aka asked with a frown on her face.

“Asking the correct questions, cutting them off at the right moments, telling them what to say, removing the idiotic stuff out of the recordings...I am the _only_ reason they are still being accepted as competent leaders by our people! And they aren’t even aware of that!”

“Wow...that’s...kind of a lot to process,” Aka mumbled. This changed a lot about the image of their empire that she had built in her head.

She suddenly spotted a fancy looking bottle next to the couch. She picked it up and turned it in her claws. It was filled with a blue liquid, and it seemed to be unopened.

“What’s that?,” the Announcer asked and carefully took it from her. He only looked at it for a short moment before opening it.

“At least this will make writing the interview easier,” he said and drank from the bottle. 

“Shouldn’t I contact the writing team to do that?” Aka asked, confused.

“No need,” he said without putting the bottle down.

“I rarely leave interviews to the writing team. They usually fail to convey my personality. Also, interviews with the Tallest need some...special adjustments,” he drank from the bottle again while staring off into the distance.

“They need to be _idiot proof_.”

“You don’t seem to be in the condition to write anything of this importance, master,” Aka noted and crossed her arms.

“You are acting rather unprofessional right now.”

He chuckled and signaled her to take place on the couch next to her. She didn’t move.

“You’ve got some nerve to act up again like that,” he then said and passed her the bottle. She hesitantly took it from him.

“Feel free to join me.”

Aka looked at the blue liquid inside the bottle she now held in her claws.

“Drones aren’t allowed to consume drugs or alcohol,” she said with a frown.

“Says who?” the Announcer snickered with a smile on his face.

“I’ll even ask you nicely - please join me, Aka. I will probably be up all night working, and I can’t get through this without your support.”

“I can’t assist you with this. I don’t know anything about writing interviews,” Aka stated and tried to give the bottle back to him. He didn’t take it from her.

“I meant emotional support, Aka. Will you just come sit with me? _Please_?”

Aka gave up and climbed up on the couch too, sitting down as far away from him as possible. He took the bottle from her and took another chug from it.

“We should be more professional...your job is very important. Every Irken in the empire will see this report tomorrow. Aren’t you nervous?” she asked without looking over to him.

“This job isn’t anything that I have ever been nervous about,” he answered and smiled at her.

“You have nothing to worry about right now. I can figure out this interview on my own, and you are not on duty. You should take that as an opportunity,” he said and handed her the bottle again. 

Aka felt like there was no excuse left that she could use to escape the situation. She looked down at the blue liquid. About a third of it was still left.

“I don’t think my PAK can process this,” she said in a last attempt to avoid drinking the alcohol. He smiled back at her.

“Yes it can,” he said in a smug tone. Aka felt a shiver run down her back. That had to be one of the modifications he had added.

She closed her eyes and took a sip from the bottle. The liquid burned in her mouth and she had to cough after she had managed to swallow it.

“That’s gross,” she said but didn’t give the bottle back to him. Instead she looked down at it, tempted to see if a second sip would burn just as much.

The Announcer opened the protocol from the meeting and scrolled through it.

“You should have been there,” he said and highlighted a passage in the text.

“Tallest Purple asked the minister if they could make the Invaders immune to something called _friendly fire_ next time. What even _is_ that?”

Aka shrugged and took another sip from the blue liquid. She felt unusually relaxed all of a sudden.

“Or this one!” he said and pointed at another passage.

“Red actually suggested we put a significant part of our budget into a bigger laser show at the second Great Assigning. It took the minister and me ages to talk him out of this!”

He sounded oddly familiar narrating her the highlights from his meeting with the Tallest. It was like he was falling into his television persona while presenting her the script before them. He even started mimicking the voices of Red, Purple and the minister after a while. 

They took turns drinking from the bottle and when it was empty Aka got up and searched around the room, quickly finding another. She also picked up 2 unopened bags of cheese flavoured chips before climbing back up to the couch. She sat down way closer to the Announcer this time, passing him one of the bags. He stopped in the middle of his interpretation of Red not understanding the basic physics of space and looked down at her with a careful smile.

“Thanks,” he said and opened it.

Aka opened her bag too and stared at it for a second before shooting him a smug grin.

“Hey, _who am I_?” she asked and held the bag over her head, dropping the entire content of it into her mouth at once. She carelessly threw the bag into the room and nodded towards her master, barely keeping all the chips inside her mouth while speaking.

“ _We should make the Invaders shoot lasers from their eyes next time!_ ”

The Announcer burst into laughter and closed the protocol. He reached into his bag of chips and followed her example by stuffing most of them into his mouth too.

“ _Yeah, and give them cup holders too! Everything's better with cup holders!_ ”

They both laughed, and while he seemed to actually have swallowed all of the chips Aka had to spit some of them out so she wouldn’t choke on them. She opened the second bottle of unidentified alcoholic liquid and took a large sip. The Announcer pulled it out of her grasp right after she had finished.

“I think you’ve had enough for today. I didn’t know you could laugh,” he said and put it out of her reach.

“And I didn’t know you could act like a normal person,” Aka countered and jumped up on her feet.

“Give that back to me!” she yelled jokingly and pushed him with both her claws. He laughed again and blocked her off with his elbow.

“No more alcohol for you. I don’t want to carry you to Medical again,” he joked and noticed that this might have been an inappropriate thing to say. But Aka seemed to be too drunk to connect the dots, she was busy fighting off the feathers from his sleeve. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at her, fascinated by the sheer amount of energy she had stored in her tiny body.

“I‘ve never met a drone like you,” he whispered with a warm smile. Aka picked up on the alarming change of mood and backed up from him.

“You have your own opinions, and I never know what your next action will be,” he continued, still smiling.

“Don’t get me wrong, those are horrible traits for a drone. Like, you are **exhausting** to work with. But I can appreciate that sometimes. It cheers me up.”

Aka sat down again. She could feel her neck and arms starting to itch, but tried her best not to scratch herself in front of him again.

“You make me nervous sometimes,” he chuckled.

“I’m just waiting for you to embarrass me in front of our Tallest one day. Wouldn’t that be fun.” 

“I wouldn’t do that!” Aka quickly shouted, louder than intended. She covered her mouth with her gloved claws flusteredly.

“You can’t help it, Aka. It’s just who you are. And I don’t blame you for it,” he answered and drank again.

“I thought you’d fall for me the second I told you that you’d be leaving the hotel with me. But you just started hating me instead,” he chuckled. Aka could have told him that him taking her from the hotel was not the reason she hated him. But she instead chose a way worse approach to the situation.

“Do you hire all your assistants in prospect of mating with them?” she asked and regretted the words the moment they left her mouth. He slowly nodded and folded his claws in his lap.

“I brought this topic onto myself, so I’ll answer your question,” he said with no hint of emotion in his voice. But Aka could tell she had hit him where it hurts.

“Yes, I had relationships with my previous assistants. But that’s not why I hired them.”

Aka eyed him critically and he sighed.

“I don’t know what else you want me to say, Aka. There is no evil scheme behind this. Most Irkens I meet fall for me, it’s literally my job to be likeable. It was just fun, and it’s not forbidden by law.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Aka mumbled, kneading her claws tighter. She looked up into his glowing eye with a frown.

“Did Tab think it was fun too?”

The Announcer took a moment to realize what she was hinting at.

“Oh ouch. Now _that_ sounds accusing,” he laughed.

“Why would you bring up Tab now? You‘ve never even met her.”

“I want to contact her. I need to know how she‘s doing.”

“Why?“ he asked and chugged the rest of the bottle.

“I just need to, okay?“ Aka mumbled. 

“You‘re a horrible actor, Aka. Tell me what is going on.”

To Akas surprise he sounded more worried than upset. She felt her PAK clicking and clenched her teeth. She knew she was losing this discussion.

 **TELL HIM** her PAK said between the clicks. It sounded more menacing than usual.

“It’s for someone else,” she babbled involuntarily. He didn’t look surprised.

“She has a friend here on the ship, doesn‘t she?” he asked without a trace of anger in his voice. Aka nodded. She felt disgusted at herself for revealing that information to him.

“I picked Tab up on planet Foodcourtia. That was 3 years ago, she was managing a donut shop there,” he explained and looked down at the empty bottle in his claws.

“And that’s exactly what she is back to doing now.”

Aka was tired and wanted to just accept his answer, but she could not believe him just like that.

“I want to contact her myself. You’ve lied to me before, I won’t take your word for this,” she said in a determined tone. He put the empty bottle aside and turned towards her.

“I want you to listen to me closely now, Aka. I do not know what Dot and his friend have told you about me, but I am not the villain that you are trying to see in me. I promise you that Tab is fine where she is right now.“

He still didn’t sound angry at all. Aka felt suspicious of his calm behaviour, but chose not to give up just yet.

“This doesn’t change anything,” she said.

“Just give me Tabs contact information.”

Aka felt herself growing more tired with every word she said. She really wanted this conversation to be over. He sighed and pulled up his contacts list. 

“Just don’t call her right now,” he said and sent the file over to Akas PAK.

“It’s late. And I should get to writing the interview.”

Aka started at the contact file on the screen before her. The image showed the little green eyed drone she had seen back when he first arrived at the hotel.

The Announcer watched Aka for another moment, then he pulled up an empty text file from his PAK and started typing. Aka yawned and squinted at the clock on her PAK, but her vision was too blurry to make out what it said. She slid over to her master and pointed at the little display.

“Can you read that?” she asked while propping herself up on his thigh. He checked the time on his own PAK instead of hers.

“It’s past midnight, and you’ve definitely had too much to drink. You should get some sleep,” he said and looked back down at her. Aka had curled up in the train of his cloak and wasn’t moving anymore. The Announcer leaned over her to get a better look at her face. She had her eyes closed, so he assumed she had already passed out. He used his left claw to tap her back. When she didn’t react he leaned in even closer and carefully stroked her cheek with one gloved finger. She mumbled something incomprehensible and turned to the other side. He got a better look at the infected wound on the other side of her neck and frowned. It was turning red and blue around the edges. He turned back to his work to distract himself from the daunting view of Akas injuries. For the first time in his life he felt guilty for what he had done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory artwork of my favorite scenes from this - 
> 
> https://twitter.com/khaliarart/status/1355981443571339266?s=21
> 
> https://twitter.com/khaliarart/status/1340036774404485124?s=21


	16. Interview

TW Non-Consensual Touching and Kissing

Just don’t read anything from here in general if you’re not into non-con

* * *

It was dark around Aka when she woke up. She lay curled up and surrounded by a soft fabric, and something was touching her face. She pushed it away with her elbow and it slid off her head. Suddenly the room was illuminated and she covered her eyes with her claws to shield herself from the light. The Announcers cloak was spread around and draped over her, the feathered hood of it was what had covered her face before.

“You’re up,” the Announcer yawned and turned to Aka with a smile. He had taken off the cloak, probably because she had been occupying it. He was left wearing the red turtleneck sweater that wasn’t covering the PAK on his back.

“And just in time. The recording team notified me that they’ll arrive shortly.”

“My head hurts,” Aka grunted and propped up her elbow on what she thought had been the couch cushions all along. She now realized that she had been cuddled against her masters thigh. She scurried away from him and checked her body for any changes. She wasn’t quite sure what she was searching for yet when she noticed him looking down at her confused.

“I didn’t touch you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he mumbled and opened up a text file from his PAK. 

“Took me the entire night, but the interview is done. Do you want to take a look at it?” 

Aka squinted at the screen but could not make out what was written on it. Her sight was too blurry and the lights in the room were blinding her.

She sighed and rubbed her pink eyes, but instead of the text on her masters PAK screen her eyes wandered off towards a huge window on the wall next to them. She hadn’t noticed it until now, but the window was turned towards Conventia. The planet was gigantic, surrounded by the even more impressive docking ring. Aka had heard that the ring was one of the empires most impressive architectural achievements, but she could never have pictured how impressive it really was until now. 

The Announcer followed her gaze and ended up looking at the window too.

“I opened the blinds,” he said and closed the screen with the interview.

“I thought you might like the view.”

Aka climbed down from the couch and walked over to the window, careful not to step on anything (formerly) edible. She only stopped when her forehead and claws were touching the glass.

“It’s even more beautiful from up here,” she whispered and sat down, her claw still pressed up against the window.

“And it is so much bigger than I imagined.”

The Announcer got up from the couch too and stretched with an unhappy sounding growl.

“I’m getting too old for all-nighters,” he sighed and walked up to Aka on the window. She turned away from the view and towards him.

“How old are you?” she asked. He shot her a smug smile.

“I was joking. We’re the same age.”

Aka frowned at his statement.

“How do you know when I was created? I never told you that.”

He turned away and looked out the window.

“I ran a background check before I hired you. These are dangerous times we live in, and I am the most important representative of the Irken empire.”

“You’re the one who came to me,” Aka stated with an even deeper frown. He chuckled at her reaction but didn’t answer. They remained silent for a moment, just staring out of the window and down at the gigantic docking ring.

“I’ve been thinking,” the Announcer quietly said into the silence and looked at Aka who was still sitting on the floor, claws pressed against the window.

“Once all of this is over, we could go someplace together.” Aka pressed her antennae flat onto her head and focused on staring at planet Conventia instead of him. She didn’t like the mood of the conversation.

“Let’s just take a ship and go. I’ll leave Dot in charge of the station. And this field reporter guy we have around, he can do the news broadcasts. I’m sure it won’t be too big of a disaster.”

Aka still didn’t look up to him. He smiled.

“I have visited every relevant system to either obtain or spread information, but I have never just...traveled somewhere. Together with someone.”

He shoved a few empty pizza cartons to the side with his foot and sat down too.

“We can go anywhere you’d like to. Maybe we could visit Foodcourtia, or one of those nightlife planets. You’re not the best at drinking, but I think you’d like the shows and theatres they have there.”

Aka bit her lip to keep herself from either crying or saying something dumb.

She didn’t want them to leave Conventia together. She didn’t want to go anywhere with him.

He dropped the smile when he realized that Aka was not going to talk to him.

“You don’t have to answer right away. I get it, you are not ready for this conversation yet,” he sighed and turned around when there was a uncoordinated knock on the door.

“Hey Anno,” a very annoying sounding voice yelled from the other side of the door.

“There’s a whole flock of uniformed service drones outside and they want in. Can you take care of this?”

The Announcer growled something incomprehensible and got up from the floor. He carefully crossed the room, picking up his cloak from the couch on his way. He dramatically threw it over his shoulders and fastened it in front of his chest before opening the previously locked automatic door. Before it stood Tallest Red and Purple, each holding a huge slushy cup in their claws. 

“My Tallest,” the Announcer smiled and bowed down.

“We will go and welcome them. Would you tell me where we can best set up for the interview?”

The Tallest looked at each other confused and then back at him.

“Can we pick the couch?” Purple asked. 

* * *

Less than half an hour later the TV stations technician team had almost finished turning the _Massives_ control bridge into a fully functional recording studio. Aka and the Announcer walked in on Dot yelling at a group of drones who had troubles carrying a bunch of cables over the very narrow catwalk which led from the entrance to the platform with the couch. They were both holding a cup of coffee in their claws now, though while it was Akas first cup the Announcer had already chugged two cups before and was about to finish his third one. Dot energetically turned around towards them and almost bumped into the Announcer.

“My Showmaster,” Dot quickly gasped and straightened up. 

“Good morning! Everything is going according to plan here. We will be ready to start recording in 3 minutes.”

“Great,” the Announcer sighed and walked past him, throwing himself into the chair they had put down across from the couch.

“Dot, bring me another coffee,” he yawned and turned his most recent cup upside down. It was empty. Dot looked at him, then at Aka, then back at the Showmaster.

“Your assistant is _right here_ ,” Dot stated with a frown.

“Oh, right…” the Announcer said, still eyeing his empty cup but not saying anything more. Aka and Dot looked at each other for a short moment, then she handed Dot her cup and turned to go back to the cantina to fetch another coffee. 

She was stopped by Jam who jumped at and hugged her tightly.

“I thought you were _dead_!” Jam yelled while squishing the life out of the tiny drone. Aka laughed and hesitantly hugged Jam back.

“No for real though, I heard that on these streets they kidnap small drones like you and sell their organs to the highest bidder. I was convinced I’ve sent you to your certain death.”

“Is that true?” Aka asked and they let go of each other.

“That has indeed happened before,” Dot casually added to their conversation while noting something down on his clipboard. Aka accepted what they just had said wordlessly and set out to get another coffee while Dot got back to managing the recording crew, which included forcing Jam to go back to her position behind the camera.

None of them had noticed that their master had silently watched their entire conversation with a menacing frown on his face.

* * *

Aka handed her master his fourth cup of coffee while checking her planner. He took it from her and chugged the entire thing in one go. She looked up at him with a concerned smile.

“Are you feeling ready for this?” she asked and took a sip from her own cup. He shook his head.

“Not at all. How do I look?” he asked and somehow managed to sit fancier in his chair. Aka tilted her head.

“You look tired,” she then said and closed the planner on her PAK.

“I got good news for you though, I was able to move all appointments for today to other dates. You got the afternoon cleared.”

“That’s a relief…” he sighed and suddenly jumped up from the chair. Aka turned around and stared up at the Tallest who had just entered the set. She scurried out of their way and hid behind her master.

“The place looks like a storage for spare parts,” Red grumbled and kicked a cable that was in his way. 

“My Tallest,” the Announcer said and smiled at them widely.

“Thank you for joining us. If you would take a seat, please,” he said while gesturing towards the couch. Red and Purple eyed him critically but didn’t make him ask twice. They sat down on the couch and the Announcer pulled up the interview, pushing it just outside the view of the cameras before sitting back in his chair too, crossing his legs. Aka recognized the pose from all his other interviews she had seen on television. It felt surreal to her to see him like this in person.

“You already know how this goes, but I will read you the rough framework anyways,” the Announcer said while intensely eyeing their leaders.

“I will ask questions, you will answer them. I’ll first ask a few details on the events of Operation Impending Doom 1, then we will talk about how you came to the decision of launching Operation Impending Doom 2. Then there is a second part to this interview in which we will call in the minister of the Irken military to talk about the technical execution of Operation Impending Doom 2. On air you will **not** eat, drink, make up information, stand up, accept calls, address me by something that isn‘t my title, give instructions to my team or generally talk to anyone in this room but **me**. Have you understood?” he asked while still smiling.

The Tallest seemed intimidated by his speech and held each other's claws while nodding simultaneously. The Announcer turned towards Aka who was hiding behind his chair.

“Go be with the rest of the team,” he said and handed her his empty cup of coffee.

Aka nodded and hurried to get off the set.

* * *

“Good day people of Irk, and welcome to a _very_ special issue of the Irken News Channel! Today we are talking with two exclusive guests, you know them and you love them, here they are, your all-knowing, all-powerful leaders, the **Almighty Tallest**!”

The Announcer leaned forward in his chair and dramatically pointed towards the Tallest with a wide grin on his face. Red hesitantly waved into the camera. 

“My dear Tallest,” the Announcer lowered his voice, addressing the two Irkens on the couch instead of the camera.

“There is _one_ question that every Irken in the empire is currently asking themselves - after the devastating failure of Operation Impending Doom, what will be Irks next step in achieving universal galactic conquest?”

Purple frowned at him.

“We already told you. It’s Operation Impending Doom 2.”

The Announcer went through several stages of grief before he managed to answer.

“I know. But I need you to say it again, for the people of Irk.”

“Is this live?” Tallest Red asked.

“Fortunately, it’s **not** ,” the Announcer hissed at Red and turned back to Purple.

“I will now repeat my previous statement, and this time you will answer something like _‘Luckily, we have a solution for the tragic state that our empire is in right now. We, your Almighty Tallest, have come up with a great plan, and we call it Operation Impending Doom 2!’_ Then I will ask you what exactly Operation Impending Doom 2 will be like, and you will tell me what you said in the meeting yesterday.“

Red and Purple stared at him in confusion, trying to piece together what he had just said. 

Aka leaned over to Jam while witnessing the mess that was playing out before them.

“Do these interviews always go like that?” she asked in disbelief. 

“Without exceptions,” Jam whispered back, not removing her eye from the camera's viewfinder.

“He‘s going to be steaming mad after this. There is nothing worse than our beloved Showmaster post-Tallest,“ she added. Aka looked back at him and the Tallest, they seemed to just have moved on from the first question.

“My Tallest,“ the Announcer said, still smiling widely at their leaders. 

“This really is a decision of historical significance. Tell me, what can the people of the Irken empire expect the following months to be like? Is there anything that will change as we prepare our soldiers for this crucial event in Irken history?“

“I don‘t think I get the question,“ Red said.

“Yea, can we skip that one?“ Purple added and the Announcer glanced over to his notes, scrolling down to the next question. He quickly noticed that this wasn‘t going to go anywhere.

“Cut the recording,“ he yelled at Dot, who passed the command on to the rest of the team. 

“Are we done?“ Purple asked in a hopeful tone.

“No,“ the Announcer hissed at him and closed his notes on the interview. His smile had vanished as soon as Jam had flipped the switch on the camera.

“We will just skip the first part of the interview and move on to the second. Aka!“ he yelled and Aka rushed onto the set.

“Yes, my Showmaster,“ she said and bowed.

“Call the minister. We need her here on the control bridge,“ he said while Aka had already opened her contact list. The Announcer got up from his seat and ruffled the feathers on his cloak. 

“My Tallest, you may wait here until she arrives,“ he said towards the Tallest and walked off the set. 

* * *

The minister took longer to arrive at the control bridge than expected. The Announcer had told Aka to wait with the team while he re-wrote parts of the script, so she sat down between a bunch of equipment suitcases in the back of the room. She had been doodling on a clipboard she had found with the rest of the camera equipment for a while when she heard his voice again.

“I didn't know you had a hobby,“ the Announcer said in a soothing voice while peeking into her hiding spot through a web of cables and camera equipment. Aka stared at him and then back on the clipboard. She had sketched Jam dozing off behind her camera and had tried to capture Dot, who was still running around yelling at the other drones. But he was moving too fast for her to accurately draw him.

“I‘m sorry, master. This was unprofessional of me,“ she answered and got up. 

“I just didn‘t want to wait closeby and possibly be in the way of the camera crew. There isn‘t a lot of space available.“

“You‘re fine, Aka. It wasn‘t hard to find you,“ the Announcer answered while she crawled out of her corner. They stood behind some spare headlights that weren‘t used to light the platform. Aka only now noticed how dark and shielded the area was from the rest of the set. She could look right at Jam and the other drones, but they would have a hard time spotting them back here, between all the carelessly dumped recording equipment. Aka quickly decided she wanted to leave the area and looked up to her master.

“Are we going to go back to the set?“ she asked and took a first step towards the platform. The Announcer didn‘t move.

“I don‘t often get to see the set from this angle,“ he said with a hint of melancholy in his voice. Aka followed his gaze to the camera team who were still busy adjusting parts of the equipment.

“Being the only one on the other side of the camera gets lonely sometimes. I’m either alone or talking to people who I don’t like or do not care about.“

Aka didn‘t know what to answer him. 

“I like to imagine that you are up there with me. Just the way it was back at Operation Impending Doom 1. Having you close makes the job tolerable, maybe even fun,“ he continued in a low voice and sat down on the floor next to her. Aka was just about to take a cautionary step back when he reached out for her with his claw and pulled her in, real close to his face. 

“Maybe I could have you sit on my lap during the morning news tomorrow. Nobody could see you if I hid you under my cloak,“ he whispered to her while tenderly stroking her waist. Aka clenched her jaw and fists, if it hadn‘t been for her thick gloves she would have probably pierced the skin on her palms. She was overwhelmed by the same type of anxiety she had experienced back at the commentator booth. 

“Is that something you did to your previous assistants too?” she whispered back at him with a frown on her face. He chuckled and tightened his grip on her waist. 

“You’re so negative all the time, Aka. Can’t you just enjoy the unsolicited attention of a taller for once?” 

Aka growled something and turned her head away. He used his other claw to grab her chin and carefully turn her face back at him. She flinched at the unexpected strain on her neck and firmly dug both her claws into his fingers. He didn’t seem to bother.

“Your life would be so much easier if you just stopped resisting me,” he whispered and firmy pressed his lips onto hers. Aka kept her mouth and eyes shut tight during the kiss and tried to push his face away with both her claws, but he was too strong for her to fight. She felt his tongue stroke over her lips and pressed her claws deeper into his skin in an effort to hurt him enough that he would let go of her. The fingers he had wrapped around her waist wandered down her thigh and she felt him push them below the skirt of her uniform. 

Aka gasped at the distressing touch and he slipped his long tongue into her mouth while stroking the bare skin of her chest below the uniform with his gloved claw. She put her entire strength into turning her face away from him and he finally let go of her before she could accidentally hurt herself.

She stumbled away from him, breathing heavily from the struggle. He grinned at her.

“It’s nobodies but your choice to make this harder than it needs to be, Aka. I promise I will treat you well, there is no need to fight this,” he hummed in a low voice. Aka demonstratively wiped her mouth while angrily glancing at him.

“Be upset with me all you want,” he sighed while still smiling.

“But you will be alright. I only want what’s best for both of us, and I know you will come to see that eventually.”

Aka scratched over the areas on her skin where he had grabbed her. They itched like crazy, she could barely keep track of with all the spots on her body that were flaring up. Her stomach and chest as well as her face and neck all pounded and she wished she could just rip off the skin he had touched. He shot her a worried look.

“You’ve got to stop with the scratching, you are hurting yourself,” he said and tilted his head to look at the inflamed wound on her neck.

“How about you shut up about things that you can’t understand,” Aka hissed back at him. Her PAK started viciously clicking at her, she could barely hear herself talking over it.

“You don’t even know what you are saying. The only one hurting me is **you** ! It has _always_ been you! Stop acting like you’re my friend, or my mate, or whatever sick fantasy you’ve built up in your head! I am not going to be a part of it!” 

**SHUT UP** her Pak yelled at her. She stopped the scratching and clenched her claws to fists.

The Announcer looked around the room, concerned that someone could have heard her. But none of the drones were turned their way.

“You don’t have a choice, Aka. Every time you try to fight me, you will fail,” he calmly said and got up from the floor.

“There is nothing for you to win by pursuing this behaviour. I have been very considerate with you up to this point, and I still think that we can settle this the easy way. But that only works if you cooperate with me.”

“Your vision of cooperation is just that I give in to you,” Aka hissed.

“That’s your words, not mine,” he answered and glanced over to the set. Tallest Red and Purple were busy playing a video game, next to them stood the minister of the Irken military. She must have arrived during their argument. The Announcer turned back to Aka who had her arms wrapped around herself and was looking down at the floor.

“It‘s your choice how difficult this is going to be,” he said and fixed the sleeves on his cloak. 

“We have to get back to work. Do me a favor and continue working like you did before, you‘ve been doing a great job today.”

“Yes, my Showmaster,“ she grumbled and angrily plucked the skirt of her uniform back into place before following him back to the set.


	17. We Need To Talk (2)

This chapter is rated A for alien dick :)

* * *

It was past noon when they finally arrived back on the planets surface. The drone team spread out and carried the equipment back into the television station while Aka and the Announcer stood in the lobby, watching them.

“Well that was exhausting,” the Announcer sighed and stretched. Aka had managed to avoid talking to him for the entire trip back to Conventia, this was the first time he had spoken to her since their fight on the control bridge. She ignored him and turned away, spotting a familiar Irken across the room from them. She was tall, wore a long black dress and was walking towards them.

“Mistress Val,” the Announcer sighed in an annoyed tone once he had spotted her too.

“What brings you here? I thought I said last time that you are not longer welcome here.” 

“You’re charming as ever,” Val answered and stopped right before him. She was a stunning lady, practically every single one of her features equaled the Irken beauty standard. Her lashes were long and dark and her evenly curled antennae almost reached down to the floor. She was tall, nearly on eye level with the Announcer, thin and her waist was unnaturally narrow. And she didn’t look down at Aka even for a second.

“I saw that petty other reporter do the news show today, so I figured you might be free. I have a few things that I’d like to discuss.”

“I’m afraid I am very busy. If I remember correctly I have someplace to be right now, what was it again...” he said and looked down at Aka with a pleading face. 

“No, my Showmaster. You got no more meetings scheduled for the _entire_ day,” Aka said back at him with a smug grin. He frowned at her betrayal and turned back towards Val.

“What is it that you want to talk about?” he sighed and Val smiled.

“Let’s discuss this someplace else. But the drone won’t come,” Val said with a disgusted look at Aka and turned to leave. 

The Announcer looked more upset than Aka herself, but he accepted Vals demand with a displeased grunt.

“You’re dismissed for the day,” he sighed at Aka before following Val into the station.

Aka watched them leave with a blank expression on her face while standing frozen in the center of the television station lobby.

“Someone’s getting laid,” an amused voice behind Aka said and she jumped. Jam and Dot stood next to her, both loaded with camera equipment from the interview.

“Have you been standing there this entire time?” Aka asked and Jam chuckled while she and Dot walked past Aka towards the elevators. Aka joined them and squished into one of the elevators after them.

“Can you get the 15th floor for us?” Dot asked behind the mass of stuff they were carrying. Aka nooded, typing the floor number into her PAK. The doors closed and the elevator started moving up.

“What is that?” Jam asked with an irritated glance at Akas PAK. She had spotted the application that controlled the elevators.

“It’s a remote control. Our Showmaster gave this to me so I could use the elevators on my own,” Aka said with a sad look at the actual elevator controls.

“I can’t reach the buttons. Back at the hotel I would always have to ask our guests to push a button for me. Or I left on the floor that was closest to the one I needed and took the stairs from there.”

Aka closed the holo screen while Dot and Jam stared at her.

“That does not sound like him at all,” Dot mumbled and Jam nodded.

“He usually laughs at us when we can’t do things because of our height,” Jam added. Aka frowned.

“Then again, he has always been considerate of Tab too,” Dot said and the elevator doors opened. They had arrived on floor 15.

“I can’t remember him kicking or making her trip even once. I think his assistants just get special treatment,” he continued while walking down the hallway towards the equipment storage. Aka followed them silently.

“He never tripped me either, maybe being pretty gets you a better treatment too,” Jam chuckled. Dot grunted and unlocked the door to the camera storage. They all entered the room and Aka looked back to check if they were alone.

“I have Tabs number,” Aka said and the others turned towards her.

“Our Showmaster told me that she works on Foodcourtia now, but I don’t know if he told the truth. We can check on her.” 

“How did you do that?” Dot asked while Jam had already dumped her pile of equipment and stood beside Aka.

“Let’s call her now!” Jam yelled excitedly. Aka opened her contact list and spotted Tabs contact for a split second, then it disappeared like it had been a glitch. She frowned at the empty screen.

“Did you see that?” Aka asked towards Dot and Jam who had both moved in really close now.

“I did,” Jam said with a frown.

“It was just there. Where did it go?”

All three of them stared at Akas holo screen while she scrolled through the entire contact list searching for Tab, but the contact file was gone. Aka closed and re-opened the application, but this time it didn’t even flash up.

“That is concerning,” Dot mumbled.

“Pretty creepy,” Jam added.

“I am so tired of random weird stuff happening,” Aka sighed and closed all screens of her PAK.

“Dot, where is this buildings main computer?” she asked. The two looked at her concerned.

“That would be the highest floor, at the base of the transmission tower. They put it on the only floor us drones can’t access,” Dot said.

Aka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That was her masters quarters. Of course.

“The Showmaster runs the station, so anything he knows this computer knows, right?” Aka asked towards Dot and already turned to leave. 

“Yes, they’re synchronized,” Dot said and quickly grabbed Akas wrist before she could storm out of the room.

“But you can’t just go there, Aka! If he hurts us drones over missed appointments and spilled coffee, what do you think he will do if he catches you breaking into his quarters and stealing information? You haven’t seen what our master can be like when he is angry.”

Aka shook off his grip around her wrist. Jam also looked concerned now.

“Dot is right. What you have seen in the past days was nothing compared to what he is actually capable of,” she added.

“We all want to know how Tab is doing, but this…it’s not worth the risk, Aka. Just let it go.”

“He gave me the contact voluntarily before. I’m not _stealing_ anything,” Aka mumbled with a brooding face. Dot sighed and covered his face in his claws.

“We know we can‘t stop you from doing this,” Jam said with a careful smile towards Aka.

“But please don‘t get caught.“

* * *

Aka took the elevator up to the highest floor. When the doors opened she noticed the scanner on the doorframe that prevented the other service drones from entering the floor.

“Master?” she asked into the silence but didn’t get an answer. She carefully stepped into the Showmasters quarters and looked around. The blinds were closed and only a fraction of Conventias purple afternoon light got inside, leaving most of the room in the dark. 

Aka wandered around and opened all doors that branched out from the room, finding a bed and bathroom. The third door she encountered was locked. She frowned and pushed the button again, but it wouldn’t budge. 

Her master had told her that she was the only drone who could access the floor besides him, so the only reason why he would lock a door here would be if it was specifically to keep Aka out. She growled at the door. The computer terminal just had to be in there, and he was hiding it from her.

Aka flinched when she suddenly heard the elevator engine humm. It had just arrived back on this floor. She quickly ducked behind the couches of the sitting area in the center of the room, just before the doors opened.

“...just don’t see why you are still doing this. It shows that you only surround yourself with service drones, all you ever talk about is _work_.”

That was Mistress Vals voice.

“This is none of your business, Val. I don’t tell you how to do your job either.”

Aka frowned at hearing her masters voice. She peaked over the backrest of the couch and saw the two of them standing in the middle of the room. As long as they stayed there she could not get to the elevator unnoticed.

“This is not about _how_ you do your job. It bothers me that you are _constantly_ doing it,” Val sighed and wrapped her arms around the Announcers neck. He leaned away from her touch.

“But I didn’t come to fight with you my dear,” she hummed and kissed him. When he hesitantly responded to the kiss she got more vigorous, grasping his face with her claws and pushing her tongue deeper into his mouth. He made an upset noise at her sudden empathis and took a step back, but she grabbed the feathered collar of his cloak and pushed him down on the couch.

“I missed you,” she moaned and let herself fall down onto his lap. 

“We just saw each other yesterday-,” he answered but was silenced by Val intensely kissing him again. She opened his cloak and threw it behind the couch, covering Aka who was still hiding there.

“You could tell me you missed me too,” she said and shifted her weight to press down between his legs while teasingly stroking her claws over his stomach.

“I have been distracted lately,” he mumbled. Val stopped kissing his face and neck and grabbed the rim of her dress.

“Then maybe I can get you to focus,” she hummed and briefly pulled up her dress to reveal that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it. When he still looked concerned she slipped her claw into his pants and pushed against the soft slit between his legs. He grumbled something incomprehensible and grabbed her thighs with both claws.

She chuckled and looked down at the Announcers claws stroking over the slit between her legs. It opened slightly and the tip of a purple colored appendage slowly writhed out of it, wrapping around the Announcers gloved fingers. Val grinned and carefully increased the pressure of her fingers between his legs.

“Let me touch yours,” she whispered while pressing her face against his neck. The Announcer twisted his fingers out of the grasp that the tentacle-like appendage had on him and it glided into his pants instead. 

“I’m not in the mood for this,” he finally hissed and grabbed Vals waist with both claws to lift her off his lap. She gasped as the tip of her purple appendage was pulled out of his pants and withdrew back into the sheath between her legs. 

“What is wrong with you?” she angrily hissed at him while pulling down her dress. He got up from the cushions and fixed the fit on his pants before searching the room for his cloak. 

“Who do you think you are to reject **me**?” she yelled and crossed her arms.

“You got someone else, don’t you? Is it the minister? I heard you both spent the night on the _Massive_.”

The Announcer took a moment to even remember that the minister of the Irken military had stayed on the ship too.

“That’s not it,” he finally said and pulled on a piece of his cloak that was hanging over the backrest of the couch. Aka held her breath when the fabric was lifted off of her.

Val growled and jumped up from the couch to plant herself in front of him threateningly. The Announcer looked down at her confused while slipping his arms inside the sleeves of his cloak.

“I don’t share,” she said while glaring at him intensely. Their foreheads were almost touching.

“You’re so possessive all of a sudden. We never officially said we were mates, did we?” he mumbled and kissed her cheek. Val harrumphed and turned her face away.

“We aren’t,” she grumbled. He smiled and stroked his claw over her chin caressingly.

“No Irken in the entire empire compares to your beauty, my dear. Why would I risk losing you?”

Val rolled her eyes at his speech and pushed him away.

“I’m leaving. You can contact me when you’re ready to finish what we started,” she grumbled and entered the elevator. The room fell really silent after the elevator doors had closed.

Aka carefully peaked over the backrest of the couch to see what her master was doing. He stared at the closed elevator for another moment, then opened his PAK on an empty message field. But instead of typing he just stared at the screen, his claws just hovering over the holographic keyboard. Aka squinted at the bizarre scene and realized that the message was addressed towards her.

After a while the Announcer started typing.

**Sorry I just left you in the lobby. I was wondering-**

He quickly deleted the text and started over again.

**I know I dismissed you for the day, but I was thinking-**

He deleted the message again before it was finished.

**Would you want to grab lunch outside the station?**

He stared at this text for quite a while before deleting it too and closing the message screen with a growl. He opened the main page of his PAK interface and Aka felt a shiver run down her back. There was the little PAK icon with her name on it. He sighed and pressed it.

The folder structure that unfolded before him was gigantic. Multiple screens opened before him, each containing more applications than the other. Aka watched in horror as he moved the red and blue screens around with his claws and stopped over the only application she recognized from her previous job. The tracking device. She quickly ducked behind the couch, but she knew this wouldn’t help her now.

“Well, this is unexpected,” he said and turned towards Aka.

“Did I startle you?” he asked with a weird smile that Aka could not identify. She sheepishly left her hiding spot and took a few steps towards him, stopping at a safe distance.

“What is this?” Aka asked. She was frozen looking at the screens.

“Something I actually did not want you to see,” he sighed. When she didn’t react he snapped his fingers before her face, releasing her from her trance.

“Aka, listen up. You don‘t need to know what is going on here. If you want to, you can leave this floor right now and we act like none of this ever happened.”

Aka blinked for what felt like the first time in minutes and looked up into his face.

“What if I don’t want to?” she asked.

“Then you caught me, and we have to talk. But I assure you you will be happier not knowing what is going on here.”

Akas eyes darted back and forth between the Announcer and the screens. She could read more from here than she could from her hiding spot. She saw a screen that recorded her vital signs, one that was a list of the last contacts she had called, another showed the messages she had sent to Irkens other than her master. Her contact list was there too, just the way she had it on her PAK. 

“Have you been monitoring my calls? And messages?” she quietly asked.

“Yes,” he sighed. She frowned at the screen with the contact list. Her list.

“It was you! You deleted Tabs contact off my PAK!“ she yelled and took a step away from him.

“Also correct,“ he answered and folded his claws behind his back. Aka felt her legs starting to shake and sat down on the floor. 

“I don‘t understand,” she whispered. The Announcer swiped at the screens and they collapsed back into his PAK. With their light missing the room turned a lot darker.

“What can I say? You caught me. I like to control things.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“I am so, **so** tired of the act, Aka. For years I’ve built up the sympathy and trust of the Irken race towards myself. The Tallest don’t even know it, but I’ve taken over their role as leader long ago. These imbeciles have no clue what I am capable of doing. I could ruin them whenever I chose to! I control the people's opinions, _I am the media_!”

He started walking circles around Aka who was still sitting on the floor.

“But you were right about me, Aka. I hate this job. All these things don’t mean anything to me. _You_ are what’s important to me. Yet you were the only thing I could not control...until now.”

Aka moved her feet closer to her body. She was scared of what more he had to say, but she didn’t stop him. She didn’t think she could even if she wanted to.

“And I would have gotten through with it, if you weren‘t so darn _stubborn_. You snoop around, you break the rules...you are just so hard to keep track of. I tried everything to please you!”

He stopped right in front of her.

“I didn’t think you would figure me out this quickly. In a few years, maybe, but you caught me on day 3! I’m almost a little proud of you. The others never figured it out.”

Akas antennae sprung up at his last statement.

“Did you do this to your other assistants too?” she gasped.

“Attempts were made. But you are my masterpiece, Aka.”

“I already belong to you, why can’t you just leave it at that?” Aka asked and got up on her feet again. She was shaking.

“This is exactly why! Just look at your face. You are always looking at me like that! Unhappy, frustrated, disgusted. You hate me!” 

He cut himself off at the last sentence and took a deep breath to calm himself down again. He’d gotten louder with every word.

“I saw the way you look at your drone friends. Just once I wished you looked at me that way.”

“That’s because they’re _nice_ to me,” Aka said with a frown.

“I am nice to you.”

“No, you are calculating! You lied to me from the moment we met, and you took it for granted that I would reward your such-called _kindness_ with affection,” she hissed through clenched teeth. The Announcer covered his face with his claws.

“Again with the fighting! All we do is fight,” he grunted and got down on his knees.

“I don’t want this anymore. Just tell me what I need to do to make you like me.”

Aka looked into his glowing eye for a long moment, trying to figure out if he was being sincere.

“You don’t want me to _like_ you,” she finally said.

“You want me to idolize and serve you, all while you control each and every of my actions. But it will never be enough for you, just the way it was with your previous assistants,” Aka said in a firm voice and walked to the elevator.

“This can’t be solved with talking. We’re done here.”

She pressed the button for the elevator, but she didn’t hear the engine start up. She pressed it again, but nothing happened.

“You can’t just leave whenever you please. This is exactly what I’ve been talking about,” the Announcer sighed and got up from the floor to walk over to the couch.

“Did you disable the elevator?” Aka asked in disbelief.

“The second I saw you were in this room,” he sighed and let himself fall into the cushions.

“Let me go,” Aka commanded.

“Or _what_?” he asked in a bored voice.

She released her PAK legs and threateningly pointed them at her master. He opened a small screen from his PAK in response and pressed something on it. Her metal legs immediately went limp and dropped down on the floor. Aka jumped at the clattering sound and stared down at the lifeless strands of metal.

“Want to find out what else I am capable of?“ the Announcer asked with a grin and swiped into the air. All of the screens and applications unfolded before him again.

“This is your body,” he said and pointed at the left section of the screens. They were colored blue.

“I can control everything your PAK usually regulates automatically. Your body temperature, for example.”

He pulled down a slider and Aka immediately started freezing. He quickly pulled the slider back into its original position, then pressed another button on the blue screen that made her metal legs retract back into her PAK.

“And this right here is your brain,” he said and pointed at the right section of the screens. They were red.

“This is where it gets interesting.“

Aka slowly walked in closer. The freezing had stopped but she was still rubbing her arms from the cold.

“Here is where your memories are stored. Do you know what happens when an Irken gets deactivated?” he asked and pulled up a huge gallery filled with video files.

Aka shook her head. She now stood directly next to the couch, staring at the memory files before her. She saw the hotel, her old coworkers talking to her, the Invaders attacking at the Main Convention Hall, Dot and Jam greeting her on her first day at the station...

“They first erase your memories, then the software that runs your brain and finally they delete the software that controls your body. I can control all of these things. I could just delete your memories of me, and start over again. As many times as I want to. Until I find out how to make you fall for me,” he said and raised a claw at the screen.

“No!” Aka yelled and grabbed his wrist with both her claws to keep him from touching it. He smiled at her.

“I could delete your entire life right here before your eyes, Aka. And when you wake up again, I could tell you anything I want to and you’d have to believe me. Who‘s to say that this is the first time we‘ve had this conversation?”

Akas eyes widened and she slowly took a step back.

“You’re bluffing,” she whispered and he shrugged.

“It doesn't matter. I just want you to finally stop resisting me and start behaving like a service drone should. Now let’s try this-“ he gestured towards the cushion next to him.

“Sit with me.”

Aka stood beside the couch staring at the little videos of her memories, but she didn’t sit with him. He raised his claw at the screen again and pushed on the memory of her first meeting with Dot and Jam. It lit up and a little red window that read **DELETE Y/N** opened. Aka squeaked and climbed up on the couch. 

“Will you listen to me from now on?” he asked, grinning down at the tiny Irken.

“Yes, master…” Aka said quietly and hugged her legs. He closed the wall of screens with a complacent look on his face and the room went dark again.

“So, what happens now?” Aka asked into the silence after a while.

“Nothing happens, Aka. Tomorrow is another work day, and then another, and maybe on one of these days you will learn to like me.”

“What if I won’t?”

“Then you have a very frustrating life before you,” he answered with a sad look towards her.

“Come sit closer,” he said. Aka hesitantly moved in closer.

“Up here,” he said and gestured towards his lap. She growled something and climbed up his thigh to sit down in his lap. He brushed his claw over her face with a soft smile.

“What were you doing on this floor anyways?” he asked while stroking Akas cheek with his thumb. She tried to make up a lie in which she needed to talk to him in person for some reason, but her PAK clicked at her anticipated disobedience right away. 

“I was going to search the main computer for Tabs contact information,” she mumbled and dug her claws into the soft fabric of his cloak. The itching had started again.

“Why do you want it so badly?” he asked while stroking over her waist and tucking on her skirt. Aka pushed down her skirt with both claws and tried to ignore what he was doing with his fingers.

“I sort of promised to find out where she is…” she said and stared up into his glowing eye.

“Why don’t you want me to talk to her? What else are you hiding?”

“You’re so accusing all the time…” he mumbled and squished her chin between his thumb and index finger. Aka angrily squinted at him.

“Tab really works on Foodcourtia. I did not lie about that. I just don’t want you to talk to her because her and I had our... differences.”

“And by _differences_ you mean you did something bad to her, and you are afraid she was going to warn me about it,” Aka hissed through her squished mouth. He let go of her face.

“I didn’t hurt her, if that’s what you’re afraid of. I would never let any harm get to my assistants,” he said and started fiddling with the bow around her neck.

“The drones here at the station have something else to tell about how you treat them. You can never trust a taller,” Aka mumbled and scratched her neck.

“Is that also something your drone friends told you?”

“No, that is my own experience.”

The Announcer sighed and opened up his contact list.

“What if we called Tab together? Like, right now. You can reassure yourself that she’s doing fine, and I get to choose when to end the conversation,” he suggested with a smile. Aka nodded and he sent the contact over to her PAK.

“You call her. She won’t pick up if I do it.”

Aka immediately hit the call button so he could not take this chance away from her again. After a few seconds an Irken in an office type uniform picked up. She had narrow green eyes and was simultaneously typing on a few other holo screens.

“Yes, who is this? Please make it quick, I’m very busy right now.”

Aka wanted to speak up, but she hadn’t exactly been prepared for the conversation to happen like this. Her masters presence prevented her from asking the questions she actually had. The green eyed drone noticed the long silence and briefly turned her head towards Akas call.

“Who are you?” she asked with a confused face and turned towards her other screens again.

“Sorry, uh...My name is Aka,” Aka stuttered and moved closer to the screen.

“Are you Tab?”

“Yea that’s me alright. Did you plan on calling the manager of the _Donut Star_ , or did you just try to order something?”

“So you are _actually_ managing a shop on Foodcourtia?” Aka asked in a surprised voice. 

“I mean yes, but…for real who is this?” Tab sighed and closed up her other holo screens to take a closer look at Aka.

“Listen up cutie, I don’t have the time to-“ she cut herself off in the middle of the sentence and stared at the screen in horror.

“It’s you. You’re the drone from the hotel...” she whispered with a distressed look on her face. Aka nodded.

“Is _he_ listening to us right now?” 

The Announcer leaned forward and hit the **END CALL** button on Akas screen. She flinched and whirled around to him.

“Hey! I wasn’t done yet!” she hissed while he opened Akas contact list on his own PAK and deleted Tabs contact from it.

“And our deal was that I get to end the call whenever I please.”

“Lex had a message for her,” Aka mumbled and stared at her empty holo screen. The contact was gone.

“Who is Lex?” the Announcer asked with a frown. Aka angrily pouted at him but did not answer his question.

“Fine, keep your secrets. You got what you wanted. Now can we end this chapter once and for all?” he sighed and started petting her head again. She tried to writhe away from his touch and he clasped his fingers around her neck.

“Do I need to remind you of your situation, drone?” he asked and carefully tightened his grip. 

“Get your filthy paws off me!” Aka hissed through clenched teeth. 

“Oh, so we‘re finally past the formalities? Are you not going to ask me nicely again if I may stop?” he asked with a grin and grasped her thigh with his other claw. 

“No _please_ any more? No _master, I don‘t like this_?”

He leaned down to kiss her and Aka slashed her right claw over his face before he could touch her. He pulled his head back and covered the cut with one of his gloved claws, but he didn’t let go of Akas thigh.

“Damn it Aka, have some dignity!” he hissed. A stain of pink blood ran through his fingers and dripped down on his cloak. Aka pushed against the grasp he had on her thigh but didn’t succeed in loosening it. He took a deep breath to calm himself down again.

“Better choose your next action wisely, or maybe I delete your comprehension of the Irken language next,” he mumbled and wiped away the blood from his face, revealing the cut that ran diagonally over his mouth and chin. 

“Wouldn’t it be fun if you could not understand anyone anymore? I’m sure your friends would be worried sick,” he chuckled.

“You’re mad,” Aka hissed and scratched over his wrist, but his gloves were too thick for her to hurt his skin. He growled and pushed the pointed ends of his fingers into her thigh in response, piercing the fabric of her pants. Aka flinched at the pain and he stopped to look down on her legs. He had torn the fabric of her pants and cut into her thigh below it, leaving pink lines in her skin. 

“I- I’m sorry,” he gasped and pulled back his claws.

“I didn’t notice-“

Aka took advantage of his confusion and quickly jumped down from his lap. She walked towards the elevator and only looked back at him once she had reached the door.

“Unlock the elevator,” she said in a firm voice and propped herself up on the wall. Her leg was hurting a lot. 

The Announcer got up from the couch and absentmindedly unlocked the elevator from his PAK. He was clearly overwhelmed by the situation.

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said quietly and Aka hit the button on her PAK that would bring her to the drone quarters. 

She crossed her arms and turned away from him until the elevator doors were closed.

* * *

Minutes later Aka entered the drone quarters of the television station. She was scared to go into her own quarters as long as he had the ability to unlock and enter them whenever he wanted. 

She held her arms crossed before her chest and looked around searching for Dot and Jam in the sleeping room. Many service drones looked at her weirdly, most of them went out of their way to avoid getting too close to her.

“Do you know where Dot is?” she asked towards a group of technician drones. They turned away and acted like they hadn’t seen her. She turned towards a drone in a white uniform.

“Have you seen Jam? She also works in the camera department,” Aka asked her. The drone quickly turned away and walked into the other direction. Aka frowned and sat down on one of the many beds that stood in rows along the sides of the room. It didn’t take long until she heard a familiar voice yell at her.

“Aka! The others told us you’ve come to visit us,” Jam squeaked and threw herself onto the bed next to Aka. Dot followed her with a more composed expression.

“Are we gonna have a sleepover party?” Jam asked and teasingly touched shoulders with Aka. Only now she spotted the ripped fabric of Akas uniform.

“What happened?” she gasped and covered her mouth with her claws. Aka wiped her face. She had started crying.

Dot sat down on the floor in front of the bed and anxiously eyed the cuts on Akas thigh.

“I hate him so much,” he hissed while Jam held Akas claws.

“I’m so sorry Aka,” Jam said and hugged Aka. She flinched but then leaned into the hug, sobbing into Jams shoulder.

“Get us a new uniform!” Dot yelled at a random drone that was passing by and it quickly nodded and ran off. Aka slowly got her sobbing under control and looked up at the aisle she had come from.

“Why wouldn’t the others talk to me…?“ she quietly asked towards Dot.

“It’s because of _him_ …they are scared of you,“ he grumbled and raised his voice at the entirety of the quarters.

“And you should **all** be ashamed of yourselves!” he yelled towards the other service drones.

The drone who had fetched the uniform had returned and dropped it besides Aka and Jam on the bed. Dot took it and unfolded it for Aka. It was black, just like his.

“I guess you’re part of the _News Direction and Quality Control_ department too now,” he joked and gave it to Aka. 

“Welcome to the team.”

Aka wiped her face again and stared down at the black jumpsuit. It had a high collar and the logo of the Irken News Channel printed on the sides of the sleeves. She grabbed it with both claws and lifted it up. It was heavy.

“Dot, turn around,” Jam said and boxed Dot into the gut. He chuckled and turned away while Aka took off her ripped pants and dress. When she pulled the fabric down her leg she spotted that her entire thigh was bruised. Jam gasped at the amount of blue and yellow patches that spread up all the way to Akas waist.

“I will kill him!” Jam hissed and clenched her fists.

“I hope you broke this bastards fingers.”

“Something like that…” Aka said with a hesitant smile and pulled her dress over her head, revealing that her neck was bruised too. 

Dot had turned around to see what they were talking about and frowned at the sight of Akas injuries.

“What exactly happened?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“Dot, we all appreciate that you‘re trying to help. But I think she needs some more time,” Jam intervened with a concerned glance at Aka.

“And we have to do something about him,“ she added with a growl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the angry bean in her new uniform: https://twitter.com/khaliarart/status/1360327609851273228?s=21
> 
> And an animation I did for this chapter: https://twitter.com/khaliarart/status/1361076086323437570?s=21


	18. Done Trying

Aka woke up from the ring of an alarm she knew all too well. It was the wake-up call of the drone quarters. Jam lay in the bed next to her, curled up in the sheets and mumbling something incomprehensible.

Aka carefully glimpsed at her PAK, scared that she might have gotten a message from her master. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that her inbox was empty and jumped out of her bed, still wearing the black uniform she had gotten from the drones. 

Dot came running into the room from somewhere else and pulled away Jams blanket. She sat up with a growl.

“It’s the same with you every day,” Dot sighed and slapped Jams uniform into her face.

“Get dressed or you’ll be late for the equipment check again.”

Jam yawned and started putting on her uniform. Very, very slowly. Dot looked over to Aka.

“Morning, Aka. Hope you slept well,” he said with a wide smile. Jam crawled out of bed and closed up the zipper on her white jumpsuit.

“Are you helping us out with the equipment today, Aka?” she asked and sleepily rubbed her pink eyes. Aka felt a wave of dread rush over her when she realized that they’d have to go record the morning show soon.

“As long as I can stay with you guys…” Aka quietly said. Jam shot Dot a worried look and fixed the collar of Akas uniform for her. 

“It’s gonna be fine. We look after you,“ she said with a smile.

* * *

The three of them arrived at the recording room rather late. The equipment check had taken longer than usual because Jam would not stop chatting with Aka, they were the last drones to enter the set. The recording team was more silent than usual and eyed Aka intensely. They all knew that something had happened between her and him last night.

The Announcer sat behind his table, on top of it stood two makeup artist drones. They were desperately trying to cover up the deep scratch that ran diagonally over the entire lower half of his face. 

Aka shot Dot and Jam a scared look.

“You did great work on his face,” Jam giggled and pat Akas shoulder.

“You can do this. We’ll keep an eye on you,” Dot added.

Aka took a deep breath and walked up the steps towards him. The Announcer eyed her attentively as she bowed down before him.

“Good morning my Showmaster,” she said in a shaky voice and opened the planner from her PAK.

“We have a busy day today. Most of the appointments I cancelled yesterday are due today, and I also-“

“Black suits you,” he cut her off. Aka carefully looked up from her screen and into his face. She didn’t answer. 

He waved at the makeup drones, signaling them to get lost. They quickly packed their equipment and scurried away.

“Are you okay? Did you go to Medical?” he asked with a worried look on his face and a glance at her leg, but he could not make out the condition it was in through the jumpsuit. When she still didn’t answer him he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Come on Aka. I said I was sorry. What else do you want from me?” 

She stayed silent. He frowned at her.

“Quit acting like that and answer me,” he hissed and Aka closed the screens of her PAK.

“There is nothing left to talk about,” she said back at him and left the set. He looked after her with a weird look on his face. Aka would have interpreted it as sad, though she doubted that he was capable of that emotion. She walked past Dot who did his usual speech of the recording starting in a few seconds and stopped next to the camera team. Jam greeted her with a smile.

“You showed him,” she giggled.

* * *

On this day Aka returned from the cantina earlier than usual. The break hadn‘t started yet and she absentmindedly stared at the cup of coffee she had just fetched for her master. She eyed her reflection in the black liquid and clasped the cup tighter. It was burning hot, but she did not put it down.

She did not want to go up there again.

He might act considerate today, but this was not going to be permanent.

Soon he would be back to doing whatever he wanted with her, and there was nothing she could do about it. 

And she knew that she had not experienced the worst of him yet.

_This would never stop._

“Don‘t let him get to you,“ a calm voice said and ripped Aka out of her thoughts. Jam was looking down at her from the camera operator chair.

“He might be scary, but you are smarter than him. And you got us. You can get through this.“

Aka wanted to say something to Jam, maybe thank her or explain that things were more complicated than she might think they were. But her mouth would not open, and her neck felt tied up. She looked back at her master. He had just plucked the feathers on his cape into place while performing his text into the camera. Only 5 more minutes until the break started. And then she‘d have to confront him again. Her claws started shaking, and she suddenly felt very sick.

“I can‘t do this anymore,“ she whispered. 

“I just...can‘t. I-...“

Jam noticed Akas unstable behaviour and got nervous. She checked if the camera was working fine on its own and then climbed down from her chair.

“Take deep breaths,“ she said and held Akas arm for support.

“He won‘t let me go. This will just keep going. I can‘t-“ Aka cut herself off and stared into the coffee again, then back at her master. He was still on air.

“I know a way out,“ she suddenly said in a firm tone and shook off Jams grip on her arm.

“Make sure the camera keeps rolling.“

Jam stared at Aka horrified, but unable to stop her as she climbed up the stairs towards her master. He immediately noticed Aka approaching him but continued his narration nonetheless. She walked up all the way to the table until she stood right before him. By now she had entered the camera frame and was clearly visible on the recordings. The Announcer stopped talking and frowned down at her.

“What are you doing? We‘re still-“

Aka took a deep breath and closed her eyes, then she threw the cup at him. It bounced off his helmet and most of the coffee spilled over his face and cloak. 

“Oh for the love of- **cut**!!“ Dot yelled at the team. Jam did not immediately switch off her camera, and he noticed.

“Turn it off!“ he hissed towards her specifically and Jam smiled back at him, reaching for the switch very slowly.

The Announcer wiped the coffee off his face with his sleeve and looked down at his stained clothes, then back at Dot.

“How much of that was broadcast?” he asked in a low voice.

“Pretty much all of it…” Dot stated with a hesitant glance at the live feed on his PAK. The Announcer growled and turned to Aka. His eye had lit up in that menacing red again.

“Oops. Sorry, master. That was _very_ clumsy of me,” Aka said with a smile and tried her best to hide her shaking.

“How _dare_ you humiliate me like that,” he hissed through gritted teeth and grabbed Akas left antenna with his claw. She flinched at the intense pain but didn’t budge in any way.

“You treacherous little roach. I’m done trying to tolerate each and every of your defects!” he hissed and bent her antenna between his thumb and index finger. Aka squeaked at the pain and grabbed his wrist with both claws. She had troubles hearing anything over the high-pitched tinnitus his grip caused.  
Suddenly something hit the Announcer on the side of his head and he flinched back with a growl, releasing Aka. She stumbled backwards and spotted Jam standing next to him. She was balancing a huge boom pole in her claws and furiously growled at the Announcer.

“I should get you both deactivated!“ he yelled at them while holding the side of his helmet. Part of it had cracked.

Jam threw the pole at him in response. He caught it and Jam used the distraction to grab Aka by the wrist and drag her out of the room. The Announcer broke the pole in half with an angry snarl and threw it on the ground before looking after them. They had already left the recording room. 

A call popped up from his PAK and he turned towards it. It was from the Tallest. He accepted it with a growl.

“What is it?” he asked. The Tallest looked at the coffee stained Irken in amusement for a moment before speaking. 

“Man, so that _really_ just happened, huh,” Red giggled.

“We saw the show. You don‘t seem to be on the top of you game lately, Anno. But that shit was _entertaining_ ,“ Purple continued.

“Yeah! You should let the little one join your show. The people will **love** that!” 

“Would that be all, my Tallest?” the Announcer asked in an exhausted tone. They both nodded with wide grins on their faces and he ended the call.

He sighed and dropped his soiled cloak onto the floor before sitting down on the steps that led up to the table. He buried his face in his claws.

“Dot,” he mumbled through his fingers.

“Yes, master?” Dot quickly said and clasped his clipboard tighter.

“Go after them. I don’t care what you tell Aka, just try to make her stay inside the building. Maybe she will listen to you.”

Dot nodded and quickly left the recording room.

* * *

Jam and Aka had run the entire way down from the recording room into the stations lobby. While Aka rushed all the way through the entrance door and out on the street, Jam stopped just before the scanner. 

“I can’t leave,” she said and demonstratively hit the invisible wall between them with her fist. The scanner made a displeased beeping sound. Aka turned around and walked back to the entrance.

“But I can‘t go alone,“ she said and grabbed Jams claw, pulling it towards herself on the other side of the scanner. But it bounced right off the invisible wall and the security system beeped again.

They stared at each other for a long moment before Aka stepped back into the station and hugged Jam.

“I won‘t leave without you,“ she sobbed and pressed her face into Jams shoulder.

“I will be fine, Aka. But you need to get out of this place,“ Jam answered with a sad smile.

They heard steps approaching and both turned towards Dot. He was breathing heavily from the sprint and needed a moment to catch his breath.

“Did he send you?” Jam asked in an accusing tone and crossed her arms.

“Yes...he wants me to stop Aka from leaving the building,“ Dot answered and put his claws on his hips, still gasping for air.

“Well sucks for him, Aka is going and nobody will stop her,“ Jam said.

“I agree, Jam. He‘s gone too far, all that counts now is that he never gets a hold of her again,“ Dot said and knocked against the scanner, triggering another beep. He wasn‘t able to go through it either. Aka looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Guys I- I don‘t know where to go. Until last week I had never even left the hotel that I worked for, I don‘t know this planet or anyone on it! What should I do once I‘m out?“ 

“You have to get the tracker in your PAK removed,“ Dot said. Jam nodded.

“It‘s not easy to find someone to do that in a place like Conventia. I think it would be best if you took a shuttle towards a planet that‘s further from the center of the Irken empire. Something that attracts a lot of tourism and other species, especially Vortians. I heard that they often help out Irkens that want to escape the system. Maybe Foodcourtia would be a good place to go.“

“But...isn‘t that treason against the empire? I just want to work another job, not become a renegade,“ Aka mumbled and kneaded her claws. She looked sad.

“I don‘t think you have a choice, Aka. No matter what, you _have_ to cheat the system to get him erased from your PAK,“ Jam answered and looked at Dot.

“We don‘t know if you will find someone who can help you, but this is your best chance. Worst case you get caught by the guards and are brought back to the station,“ he said. Aka nodded and tried a smile.

“Okay,“ Aka sighed and hugged both of them. Especially Dot was surprised and almost fell over by her stormy gesture.

“Thank you. For everything. I will call you as soon as I found someone to help me,“ she sobbed and let go of the two. 

“Good luck out there, Aka,” Dot said with a sad smile. 

“We will miss you,” Jam added and pat Akas shoulder one more time before she left the station through the scanner.

* * *

“I can see everything she does, you know. I saw that the two of you have sent her off to Foodcourtia,“ the Announcer said in a low voice. Dot and Jam gulped in unison. The drone team must have left the set after the incident, when the two of them returned to the recording room they were alone with him.

“I told you to make her _stay_ , not encourage her to _leave_ ,” he hissed at Dot, who visibly started sweating.

“And _you_ -“ he said, targeted towards Jam with a growl.

“Let’s just say I won’t have you operate any heavy equipment from now on.”

“Fair enough,” Jam joked and was silenced by an angry growl from the Announcer.

“Both of you can be _very_ lucky that she likes you,” he said threateningly and opened up a few screens from his PAK.

“Now let‘s get this situation under control again.“ 


	19. Existence Evaluation

The docking ring just above the atmosphere of Conventia was less busy than the last time Aka had visited it. She followed the same path through the city she had taken with her master and took a teleportation line up to the hangar, then followed the signs towards a shuttle that transferred tourists from Conventia to Foodcourtia. 

Halfway on her path through the hangar she received a call and glanced over to the screen that had opened from her PAK. It was from her master. She hit **DECLINE** and sped up a bit. 

A few steps later she received a text message.

**Just come back.**

She snorted and closed the window. Seconds later another message popped up.

**What you are trying to do will not work. They won’t let you board a shuttle on your own.**

Aka turned into another hallway and checked the signs on the wall. She was close to reaching the correct hangar. Scared that someone might notice her from the broadcast she kept close to the walls of the building and tried not to look around.

**I really thought you would be smarter than this. Try not to hurt yourself during your little adventure, I’ll see you back at the station :)**

She closed all his messages with a hiss and looked up towards the counter before her. It read **FOODCOURTIA** in huge Irken letters and behind it stood a rather small Irken with dark green eyes.

Aka checked if there were no other passengers closeby, then approached the flight attendant.

“I want to go to Foodcourtia,” she said and pulled a bag of monies from her PAK. The flight attendant leaned over the counter and looked down on the other side of it, only now spotting the little Irken.

“Aren’t you a drone? I’ll need the permission documents from your master or mistress,” he asked without taking the payment from her.

Then he suddenly frowned.

“That uniform...You‘re the drone from the news, aren‘t you?“

Aka hushed him and put the monies on the counter.

“Please, you have to let me take this flight,“ she said, looking at him pleadingly.

“You know there are less radical ways of escape. Have you tried requesting a change of departments?”

Aka did not answer him. Instead she shoved the monies even further into his direction with a pout. He tilted his head and took a closer look at her face, now spotting the discolored bruising on her neck and cheeks. He suddenly looked worried.

“Running from the empire is never a good idea,“ he sighed and took the bag of monies from her. He stared at her for another moment, maybe hoping that she would change her mind. Then he pulled a ticket from the printer on the counter.

“Shuttle’s just down the hall, to the right.”

Aka took the ticket from his claws and stared at it in disbelief. The flight attendant smiled at her.

“Best of luck, little one. I hope you make it.“

* * *

  
“What are we even waiting for?” Jam asked into the room with a yawn. She and Dot had sat down on the stairs that led up to the news set. The Announcer sat in his chair, feet propped up on the giant news table, observing multiple red holo screens. They had been hanging around like this for a while.

“How’d she do that,” the Announcer growled, ignoring Jams question. One of the red screens showed the ticket to Foodcourtia that Aka had just received from the flight attendant. 

“Do _what_?” Jam asked and jumped up to get a better look at what he was doing.

“What is all that stuff?” she asked with a frown towards the wall of screens the Announcer was moving around. He had just opened a set of blue screens next to the red ones.

“You’ll see,” he mumbled and pressed something on one of the blue screens.

“If they won‘t stop her, I will.”

* * *

  
Aka sat in one of the many seating spots for the passengers that wanted to board the shuttle. Only a handful of other Irkens and two aliens of another species were waiting for the same shuttle, most of them were talking to each other and did not look over to the tiny drone. 

Aka patiently watched a few Irken technicians doing some last checkups on the green and white spaceship. It was way larger than the one they had taken to the _Massive_ , probably capable of transporting 50 or more passengers.

She suddenly heard a quiet hum from her PAK and tried to look over her shoulder. The pink flaps had opened without her noticing it.

“What-“ she mumbled and barely managed to duck down when one of the metal PAK legs shot out and pierced the floor before her. Aka squeaked in shock and jumped up, now standing on her seat. The leg did a weird humming sound as it pulled itself out of the floor and levitated itself over her head. Aka stared up at it fearfully and then looked down and around the hangar. All the other passengers and technicians had stopped what they were doing and stared at her in horror. The Irkens closest to her slowly took a few steps back. Some had started whispering.

  
“...PAK legs? I have never seen those in action-“

“Is she an Invader?“

“...then why is she not wearing an Invader uniform?“

Aka hastily grabbed the metal leg over her head with both claws and tried to pull it back down, but it would not budge. She felt panic rising up and looked at the other passengers again.

“I’m sorry-“ she gasped and took a few steps away from them. She turned around to search for a place where she could run to but spotted two security guards slowly approaching her.

“Put your weapons down,” one of them said in a firm tone. He had purple eyes and wore a heavily armoured blue and purple uniform. 

“You are not from the military. Why do you have these?” the second guard asked. She was slightly smaller than the first and had blue eyes. 

“I‘m not doing this-“ Aka said out loud and raised her claws. As if it was answering her the metal leg dropped down to the floor with a loud bang and startled Aka again before she looked back at the guards with a nervous smile. The two stared at each other confused.

* * *

Jam was still angrily observing the Announcer when a call popped up from his PAK. He smiled at her and picked up the call.

“My Showmaster,” a blue eyed Irken in a security guard uniform said and bowed down. 

“We have taken hold of a service drone that is registered under your ID. The name is _Aka_ , ID1282838. Can you confirm that she is your property?”

“What did you do?” Jam hissed. The Announcer shot her an angry glance before turning to the security guard.

“That’s indeed one of my drones. Is she alright?”

“I am sorry to inform you about this, but she seems defective. She will have to undergo a cautionary existence evaluation. Should she be classified as safe we will arrange her transfer back to you as soon as possible.”

The Announcers eye widened as he stared at the guard in disbelief. Dot had gotten up from the stairs too to observe what was going on.

“I need her back, **now**. An evaluation is not necessary,” the Announcer hissed at the guard, trying hard to keep his voice low. A second guard with purple eyes joined his smaller colleague in the video frame.

“My Showmaster, your drone has made use of high class military weapons in a public area. This is a clear case of terrorism. If I may speak my honest opinion, she is probably beyond saving.”

The Announcer frowned and dug his claws into the metal surface of the table, then took a deep breath.

“When’s the evaluation?” he asked in a quiet voice. The female guard checked a second screen.

“We have already sent her to Judgementia. These routine checkups usually take no time at all, I can almost certainly assure they’ll be done with it before the end of the day. My Showmaster, if this inconvenience intervenes with your schedule we can send you a replacement drone immed-”

The Announcer cut her off by ending the call. Dot and Jam were both staring up at him horrified, Jam was holding onto Dots arm with both claws.

“They’re going to deactivate her,” she whispered and tightened her grip on Dot. The Announcer looked down at the two with a blank expression, not knowing what to say.

“Don’t just sit there, _do something_!” Jam yelled at him and he quickly pulled up another screen.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said, sounding stressed now. His gaze wandered around the folders and windows until he pulled up a relatively small screen.

“Here it is,” he mumbled and squinted at it. It was the list of disobediences Akas PAK had protocolled since the reencoding. The writing before him was colored yellow.

**ID1282838 (SERVICE DRONE)**

**-Wrongdoings against the Irken Empire-**

**Insulting of a taller**

**(multiple occasions)**

**Abandonment of the assigned workplace**

**Alcohol consumption**

He scrolled down further. The next block of writing was colored red.

**Assault of a taller**

**(multiple occasions)**

**Usage of military weapons**

**Mockery of the Almighty Tallest**

Dot had started climbing up the stairs to be able to read the writing on the screen as well.

“This protocol belongs to Akas PAK. Why do you have this?” he asked and crossed his arms. The Announcer stared down at him in distress.

“Either of the red ones will get a service drone deactivated…this makes no sense. Why didn’t Aka listen to her PAK? It should have prevented her from going through with these actions,” Dot continued with a frown. Jam had followed him up the stairs and angrily squinted at the Announcer.

“It was him,” she hissed. Both Dot and the Announcer turned towards her.

“Back when Val visited for the late night show, you told her that Aka only takes orders from you. That you had her PAK modified. Is this what made her do these things?”

“The missing obedience protocol…“ he mumbled and looked back at the screens.

“You’re a fucking _idiot_ ,” Jam hissed at him and clenched her claws to fists.

“Did you not think of how much trouble this would get her into? You can not mess with the Irken system like that!”

Jam heard her own PAK clicking over insulting her master, but she ignored it. The Announcer hadn’t even looked at her but instead had scrolled through a variety of video clips on one of the red screens.

“I can fix this,” he said and started selecting clips from the folder.

“If I delete her memories of these events, the Control Brains won’t have any proof of her misbehaving,” he mumbled but stopped after a moment.

His finger was hovering over a file that was colored in a deep red. Her worst offense. 

The clip showed them on the couch on the _Massive_ , she had just stuffed the bag of chips into her mouth and mimicked the Tallest while he was laughing.

The Announcer looked up and through all the other memories she had collected during her short time with him. This had been the only time he had seen her laugh.

“What are you waiting for?” Jam asked. She stood right next to his feet now, meticulously eyeing what he was doing.

“She could be on trial any second now! _Hurry up_!”

The Announcer was still staring at the glowing red memory of them on the _Massive_. He felt an immense dread at the thought of deleting it.

“I‘m going to Judgementia,” he finally said, picked up the cloak with the now dried coffee stains and hurried towards the elevator.


End file.
